D. Massachusetts cuts disability access fee award, including for clerical work

What happened

The plaintiffs sought fees under a contract fee clause in a disability access case. The court deducted $2,539 for 6.2 duplicative hours, $2,579.23 and $731.39 for disallowed entries, $9,402.50 and $2,228.74 for clerical work billed at a reduced non-core rate, $147.96 for duplicative staffing, and $1,179.99 for fees on fees. It then imposed a 40 percent across-the-board deduction for excessive hours and reduced a second fees award by 1.74%.

What the court said

Applying the two-thirds non-core rate requested by the City to the flagged entries, the court will deduct $9,402.50 from plaintiffs' fee request.

The court will apply the non-core two-thirds rate to entries 2-5, 7-9, 46, 53, 54, 62, and 67, deducting $2,228.74 from the fee request.

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

Why it matters

The ruling shows courts will separate recordkeeping problems from other billing issues and apply distinct reductions to each. Clerical entries were repriced at a non-core rate, while excessive hours drew a broad percentage cut, illustrating that time records are examined line by line before any across-the-board adjustment.

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

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