D. Colorado cuts immigration fee award 30.9%, including for clerical work

What happened

Morales Lopez sought $37,926 in attorney fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act for 140 hours. The court awarded $26,223.12, a reduction of $11,702.88 or 30.9%. It disallowed 12 hours spent on a first TRO motion it found unnecessary, allowed fees for only 7 of 14 hours challenged as clerical or administrative, and reduced the resulting amount by 20% because many of the 121 remaining hours were excessive and counsel used block billing.

What the court said

For this reason, the Court will allow Moralez Lopez to recover fees for only 7 of the 14 hours challenged by the Government as to the category of time the Government characterizes as clerical or administrative.

because many of these 121 hours were excessive, and because counsel consistently engaged in impermissible block billing, the Court will further reduce this amount by 20%.

The court also reduced the award for: unrelated claims, excessive hours.

Why it matters

The ruling shows courts will separate time spent on unsuccessful or unnecessary motions, scrutinize entries that mix clerical tasks with legal work, and apply a percentage cut where block billing and excessive hours make line-by-line review impractical.

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. Colorado approves and attorney fee motions in Colorado 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.