N.D. Texas cuts employment fee award 2.4%, including for clerical work

What happened

The EEOC, represented by Zipin, Amster, & Greenberg, LLC, sought $225,590 in Title VII attorney fees from SkyWest Airlines. Judge Sidney A. Fitzwater awarded $220,132, a reduction of $5,458 or 2.4%, and 400.24 hours. The court cut 2.2, 2.0, and 0.7 hours as excessive for specific tasks, excluded 6.8 hours as purely clerical work not recoverable as attorney fees, and reduced 3.66 hours for vague entries.

What the court said

Accordingly, the court excludes 6.8 hours as purely clerical work that is not recoverable as attorney’s fees.

Accordingly, the court finds that a reduction of 3.66 hours is appropriate.

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

Why it matters

The ruling shows that courts will trim fee petitions line by line, separating clerical tasks from legal work and requiring entries specific enough to assess, even when the overall reduction is small relative to the request.

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.