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

What happened

The plaintiff sought $16,166.25 in attorney fees under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act for 34.7 hours. The court awarded $6,522.50, a reduction of $9,643.75 or 59.6%. It set lower hourly rates for the attorneys and paralegals, and found that 8.1 hours billed by paralegal Keanush Hakimian and 0.9 hours billed by paralegal Aimee Cody were clerical tasks, reducing their billed hours to 3.7 and 1.1 respectively.

What the court said

the Court finds that the 8.1 hours billed by paralegal Keanush Hakimian on clerical tasks was not reasonable, and therefore recommends reducing Mr. Hakimian's billed 11.8 hours to 3.7 hours.

the Court further finds that the 0.9 hours billed by paralegal Aimee Cody on clerical tasks was also not reasonable, and therefore recommends reducing Ms. Cody's billed 2.0 hours to 1.1 hours.

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

Why it matters

The ruling shows that courts will separate clerical tasks from legal work when reviewing time records, and that billing clerical tasks at paralegal rates can lead to those hours being cut even when the overall fee 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 E.D. California approves and attorney fee motions in California 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.