E.D. New York cuts wage and hour fee award 64.1%, including for clerical work

What happened

Troy Law sought $71,763 in fees under the Fair Labor Standards Act for 220.78 hours. The court awarded $25,732.41, a reduction of $46,030.59. It lowered the hourly rates for each timekeeper, including for partner-level and non-partner-level work, and set a lower rate for clerical, pre-bar admission work. It cut 40% of the total hours for excessive and duplicative billing, clerical work billed as legal work, vague entries, and lack of contemporaneous records. It also declined fees for the fee motion.

What the court said

as to T. Troy's clerical, pre-bar admission work, the Court finds an hourly rate of $75 to be appropriate given her level of experience

the Court finds that a reduction of 40% of the total hours claimed by Troy Law is appropriate, if not conservative

the Court finds that a reduction of 40% of the total hours claimed by Troy Law is appropriate, if not conservative

the Court finds that a reduction of 40% of the total hours claimed by Troy Law is appropriate, if not conservative

The court also reduced the award for: hourly rate reduced, hourly rate reduced, hourly rate reduced, hourly rate reduced, hourly rate reduced, hourly rate reduced, other, excessive hours, duplicative staffing, fees on fees.

Why it matters

The ruling shows that a fee award can be reduced on several fronts at once: the hourly rate, the hours claimed, and the fees incurred in seeking fees. Courts will cut hours across the board when time records are vague, not contemporaneous, or mix clerical tasks with legal work, and will separate those recordkeeping problems from other grounds for reduction.

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 E.D. New York approves and attorney fee motions in New York federal courts.

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