S.D. Texas cuts fee award 45.8%, including for clerical work

What happened

Husch Blackwell, LLP sought $875,106.75 in fees. The court awarded $474,283.75, a reduction of $400,823.00. It excluded 9.8 hours and 17.0 hours of clerical work billed as legal work, lowered one paralegal hourly rate, and set reasonable rates for other timekeepers. It also applied 5% and 10% cuts for vague entries and 20% cuts for duplicative staffing.

What the court said

the Court finds that the following time was spent on non-legal work: (1) 2.1 hours of Ms. Holloway’s time ($500/hour); (2) 4.4 hours of Ms. Werner’s time ($235/hour); (3) 0.5 hours of Ms. Rudman’s time ($575/hour); and (4) 2.8 hours of Ms. Brakefield’s time ($395/hour).

After reviewing HMS’s billing records, the Court reduces HMS’s attorney fees by 10%.

Upon review of Cotiviti’s vague entries, the Court reduces Cotiviti’s attorney fees by 5%.

the Court finds that the following time was spent on non-legal work: (1) 5.3 hours of Hickey’s time; (2) 2.7 hours of Farmer’s time; (3) 7.8 hours of Farrell’s time; and (4) 1.2 hours of Sweet’s time.

Accordingly, the Court reduces CGI’s attorney fees by 10%.

The court also reduced the award for: hourly rate reduced, duplicative staffing, hourly rate reduced, duplicative staffing, hourly rate reduced, duplicative staffing.

Why it matters

The ruling shows courts will separate clerical tasks from legal work and reduce rates, then apply percentage cuts when entries are vague or staffing is duplicative. It illustrates that time records must distinguish legal from non-legal tasks and provide enough detail for the court to assess reasonableness.

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 S.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.