N.D. California cuts FOIA fee award 12.6%, including for clerical work

What happened

The Environmental Advocates, counsel for the fee applicant, requested $166,840.20 in FOIA fees. Judge Maxine M. Chesney awarded $145,863.70, a reduction of $20,976.50 or 12.6%. The court disallowed $1,841.50 for 2.6 hours of clerical tasks billed as legal work, $602 for 0.7 hours spent waiting for a case management conference, and $532.50 in duplicate fees. It also disallowed one fifth of 49.7 hours ($8,614) and a third of 31.2 hours ($8,964.50) for unrelated claims.

What the court said

the Court has identified 2.6 other hours that do so qualify. In particular, Wilcox spent 0.1 hours billed at $800.00 per hour "calendaring dates," 1.8 hours billed at $860.00 on clerical tasks

The court also reduced the award for: other, duplicative staffing, unrelated claims, unrelated claims.

Why it matters

The order shows courts will separate clerical tasks and waiting time from compensable legal work and will reduce fees for entries tied to unrelated claims, even where the overall cut is modest. It also shows a court declining to make further redundancy deductions once a specific duplicate fee was identified.

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. California approves and attorney fee motions in California federal courts.

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