N.D. Alabama cuts employment fee award, including for clerical work

What happened

The plaintiff in an Americans with Disabilities Act employment case sought fees for 666.8 hours. The court excluded 53.8 hours spent preparing a stricken summary judgment response and 4.3 hours related to a sanction imposed on counsel, finding hours spent as a result of a deliberate violation of a court order are not reasonably spent. It also excluded 6.3 hours the plaintiff did not contest were clerical and 0.8 hours he did not contest could be performed by a paralegal. The court did not state dollar totals.

What the court said

Second, the 6.3 hours that Mr. McClinton does not contest as being “clerical” in nature should be excluded.

The same applies to the 0.8 hours that Mr. McClinton does not contest “could be performed by a paralegal.”

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

Why it matters

The ruling shows courts will strike time tied to a rejected filing or a sanction, and will separate clerical or paralegal tasks from legal work even when the applicant concedes the point. Time records that do not distinguish task types invite line-by-line exclusion.

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. Alabama approves.

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.