D. Maryland cuts wage and hour fee award 32%, including for clerical work

What happened

The plaintiff's counsel requested $92,371.20 in fees under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The court awarded $62,846.30, a reduction of $29,524.90 or 32.0%. It removed 3.4 hours of clerical tasks billed as legal work, disallowed 2.9 hours of block-billed time, and cut 0.4 hours ($130) and 4.3 hours ($1,827.50) of block-billed or clerical entries. It also reduced summary judgment fees by 25% ($4,939.75), limited a motion in limine to 2 hours ($1,997.50 cut), removed 11.8 hours ($1,770) of clerical trial time, cut ADR fees by 25%, and reduced fees on fees by 25%.

What the court said

The above tasks are clerical in nature or otherwise non-compensable and therefore no compensation to Plaintiff's counsel for those tasks is appropriate.

because counsels' use of block billing in this entry makes it impossible to separate the compensable work from the non-compensable work, the entire 2.5 hours will be disallowed.

The Court therefore removes those 0.4 hours of requested attorney compensation with respect to preparing for and attending hearings, making $2,300.00 the total compensable amount for hearing-related activities in this case.

since counsels' block billing practices make it impossible to determine what portion of that time was impermissibly charged for organizing documents, the Court removes the entire 4.3 hours of requested attorney compensation with respect to that entry

The Court therefore removes the above 11.8 hours of time from Plaintiff's fee petition (worth $1,770.00 in charges), making $45,559.50 the total amount recoverable in fees regarding trial.

The court also reduced the award for: other, excessive hours, excessive hours, fees on fees.

Why it matters

The ruling shows that courts will disallow entries that mix compensable and non-compensable work, and will remove time for clerical tasks billed at attorney rates. It also shows that block billing can cost the entire entry when the court cannot separate the work, even where other reductions are applied separately.

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 D. Maryland approves and attorney fee motions in Maryland federal courts.

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