E.D. Pennsylvania cuts civil rights fee award, including for clerical work

What happened

The fee applicant sought fees under 42 U.S.C. Section 1988. The court did not state totals. It adjusted the hourly rates of Attorneys Fluehr and Malofiy and set a rate for another timekeeper. It declined to award Attorney Rosen any fees for 79 hours. It struck 22 and 8 hours of clerical work, reduced several entries for excessive hours, cut fees-on-fees time by 85%, and applied 20%, 33%, and 15% reductions to claimed hours for block billing, vague entries, missing contemporaneous records, and administrative tasks.

What the court said

The Court does not find this work to be compensable, and it will strike this time entry.

The Court does not find this work to be compensable, and it will strike this time entry.

The Court will reduce his claimed time by 20% to account for this billing practice.

Attorney Malofiy’s time entries are often vague and do not even state on which specific date he worked on the assignment.

Consistent with this, the Court will reduce Mr. Rucker’s claimed hours by one third.

the descriptions are vague and at least one of the tasks (securing accommodations and office space) is administrative and not compensable.

at least one of the tasks (securing accommodations and office space) is administrative and not compensable.

the Court will reduce his claimed hours by 15%.

Because the documentation of Mr. Malofiy’s hours is inadequate ... the Court will reduce his claimed hours by 15%.

some of the tasks are administrative and not compensable.

The court also reduced the award for: hourly rate reduced, hourly rate reduced, other, hourly rate reduced, excessive hours, excessive hours, excessive hours, excessive hours, excessive hours, excessive hours, excessive hours, excessive hours, fees on fees.

Why it matters

The ruling shows that courts will adjust rates and hours line by line, strike time for tasks treated as clerical, and apply percentage cuts across claimed hours when descriptions are vague, records are not contemporaneous, or entries are block billed.

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. Pennsylvania approves and attorney fee motions in Pennsylvania federal courts.

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