E.D. New York cuts wage and hour fee award 65.8%, including for clerical work

What happened

Troy Law PLLC sought $84,196.20 in fees and costs under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The court reduced the requested hourly rates for each timekeeper. It then cut total hours by 30%, citing inflated hours, delegation of rudimentary work to senior attorneys, non-compensable translation and clerical tasks, ambiguous entries, and work on a non-prevailing plaintiff's claims. The court awarded $28,808.50, including costs, a reduction of $55,387.70.

What the court said

non-compensable time requested for translation and purely clerical tasks

ambiguous billing entries (including those implicating work for non-prevailing Plaintiff Zheng not necessary to Plaintiff Cui's success)

The court also reduced the award for: hourly rate reduced, hourly rate reduced, hourly rate reduced, hourly rate reduced, excessive hours, unrelated claims.

Why it matters

The ruling shows that a fee award can be reduced both at the rate stage and the hours stage, and that billing clerical or translation tasks as legal work, along with vague entries, can support a substantial across-the-board cut even when other reasons also apply.

How to keep this out of your fee petition

• Leave purely clerical work off the fee petition.
• Describe paralegal tasks so the substantive work is clear.
• Split mixed entries into their substantive and clerical parts.

Cite this ruling

See hourly rates the E.D. New York approves and attorney fee motions in New York federal courts.

Figures and quotes are taken from the opinion and checked against its text. Spot an error? Email team@legaltime.ai with the case name and we will correct it. Summaries of public court opinions. Not legal advice.