D. Arizona cuts wage and hour fee award 12.3% over clerical work

What happened

The fee applicant in this Fair Labor Standards Act case asked the District of Arizona for $9,434 in attorney fees for 21.2 hours. The magistrate judge recommended reducing the hours by 2.3 because several time entries were not recoverable as attorneys' fees. The court adopted that recommendation and found an additional 0.3 hours for sending the docket to the client to be administrative or clerical. The court awarded $8,277, a reduction of $1,157 or 12.3%. The figures do not include costs.

What the court said

The R&R recommended that the Court reduce Mr. Bendau's hours billed by 2.3, as several time entries are not recoverable as attorneys' fees.

Further, the Court finds an additional task entry that falls squarely under administrative or clerical tasks. "Send docket to client (0.3 hours)[.]"

Why it matters

The ruling shows that courts separate clerical or administrative tasks from legal work when reviewing time records on a fee petition, and that entries describing clerical tasks are cut even in a modest request. It also shows a court adding its own reduction to a magistrate judge's recommendation after reviewing the entries line by line.

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 D. Arizona approves and attorney fee motions in Arizona 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.