E.D. Louisiana cuts intellectual property fee award 57.6%, including for block billing

What happened

MGMTL sought $1,359,050.50 in attorney fees. The magistrate judge recommended reducing the requested hourly rates to prevailing district rates and applying a 10% cut for block billing and a 5% cut for billing clerical tasks as legal work. The court also applied a 10% reduction to supplemental fees for limited success, denied fees for litigating the fee motion and bill of costs, and awarded a share of additional fees sought in the second supplemental memorandum. The court awarded $575,649.98, a reduction of $783,400.52.

What the court said

the Magistrate Judge found that a 10% reduction in the fee award was warranted “to rectify MGMTL’s occasional lapse in judgment.”

The Magistrate Judge, however, did not find widespread billing for clerical tasks and concluded that a 5% reduction of the fee award was warranted.

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

Why it matters

The ruling shows that block billing and clerical entries can draw percentage cuts to the whole fee award even when the court finds no widespread clerical billing, and that courts will reduce rates to prevailing district levels before applying such cuts.

How to keep this out of your fee petition

• Record one task per entry, each with its own time.
• Write the entry when the work happens, not at the end of the week.
• If a task really is one unit of work, say what it was and what it produced.

Cite this ruling

See hourly rates the E.D. Louisiana approves and attorney fee motions in Louisiana 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.