N.D. Texas cuts wage and hour fee award 21.3%, including for clerical work

What happened

The plaintiffs' firm, Lichten & Liss-Riordan, P.C., sought $104,968.50 in Fair Labor Standards Act fees. Judge Boyle awarded $82,634.50, a $22,334 reduction. The court disallowed $7,077.50 for one attorney's attendance at two mediations as duplicative, $2,992.50 for his duplicative mediation preparation, and $3,465 for part of another attorney's mediation attendance because three plaintiffs were represented. The court applied a 10% reduction, $8,153.25, for failure to show billing judgment, and excluded $645.75 for 3.69 hours of clerical work by anonymous legal support staff.

What the court said

Thus, the $645.75 attributed to the anonymous legal support staff for clerical work should be excluded.

The court also reduced the award for: duplicative staffing, duplicative staffing, limited success, other.

Why it matters

The ruling shows courts will separate clerical tasks from legal work and reduce fees for duplicative staffing at mediations. It also shows that a broad percentage cut can follow when the petition does not show billing judgment, even where specific entries are also disallowed.

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.

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