S.D. Florida cuts wage and hour fee award 31.3%, including for clerical work

What happened

The plaintiff in an FLSA wage and hour case asked for $14,025 in attorney fees. The court awarded $9,630, a reduction of $4,395 or 31.3%. It excluded $4,320 in post-March 21 fees listed in the plaintiff's fee ledger and $1,620 for 3.6 hours requested in the reply brief for review, research, and drafting of the fee reply. It also excluded 0.3 hours of entries it described as unrecoverable clerical work.

What the court said

The above entries represent unrecoverable clerical work.

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

Why it matters

The ruling shows courts will separate recoverable legal work from clerical tasks and will decline fees for time spent litigating the fee request itself, and for periods not supported by the fee record, even when the overall request is modest.

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. Florida approves and attorney fee motions in Florida 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.