E.D. New York cuts wage and hour fee award 18.4%, including for clerical work

What happened

Anderson Dodson, P.C. sought $17,178.50 in fees for 73 hours in an FLSA case. The court awarded $14,009.50, a reduction of $3,169.00 or 18.4%, and 71.5 hours. It lowered hourly rates for Jess Velez, Jessica Balint and Billy Hernandez, assigned a lower rate to 11.7 hours of clerical tasks, excluded a blank 0.2 hour entry, and excluded 0.2 hours spent on correspondence with opposing counsel.

What the court said

assigns a $45.00 hourly rate to all of the aforementioned clerical tasks (11.7 hours).

the Court completely excludes entirely the blank entry submitted by Balint (0.2 hours)

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

Why it matters

The ruling shows courts will separate clerical tasks from legal work and apply a lower rate to them, and will exclude entries that are blank or that describe non-compensable activity, even when the overall reduction 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 E.D. New York approves and attorney fee motions in New York 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.