N.D. Texas cuts commercial fee award 20%, including for clerical work

What happened

Mackie Wolf Zientz & Mann, P.C., counsel for Deutsche Bank National Trust Company, sought $5,260.50 under a contract fee clause. The court awarded $4,208.40, a reduction of $1,052.10 or 20%. It applied a single 20% cut to the total fee, citing a lack of billing judgment, duplicative and excessive entries including over 10 entries totaling over 3 hours spent reviewing the docket and the court's ruling, and administrative tasks billed as legal work.

What the court said

The Court finds these sorts of tasks to be largely administrative and an inappropriate item to bill.

The court also reduced the award for: excessive hours, duplicative staffing.

Why it matters

The ruling shows that a court may apply one across-the-board percentage cut when time records show several problems at once, including duplicative entries and administrative tasks billed as legal work, rather than adjusting each entry line by line.

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 N.D. Texas approves and attorney fee motions in Texas 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.