E.D. Pennsylvania cuts consumer protection fee award 59.6%, including for clerical work

What happened

Huber sought $147,219.04 in attorney fees under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. The court awarded $59,513.90, a reduction of $87,705.14 or 59.6%. It excluded 1.2 hours of clerical work billed as legal work, lowered the applicant's regular hourly rate after a five-percent annual increase for two years of inflation, and reduced the lodestar by 60% to account for limited success on the putative class claims.

What the court said

The Court will therefore exclude, rather than bill at a lower rate, the time spent on these tasks as follows:

The court also reduced the award for: hourly rate reduced, limited success.

Why it matters

The ruling shows courts will separate clerical tasks from legal work in time records, adjust hourly rates for inflation, and apply a substantial reduction when a fee applicant achieves only limited success on class claims.

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

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