W.D. Tennessee cuts commercial fee award 66.4%, including for block billing

What happened

Willkie Farr, counsel for Mueller Brass, sought $1,362,368.11 in fees and costs under a contract fee clause. The court awarded $457,324.31, a reduction of $905,043.80. It cut Rhode Island fees by two-thirds, $434,347.43, because the claims were unrelated. It reduced non-Tennessee counsel's hourly rate to the average of the low and high ends of local counsel's billing rates. It also applied a 40% reduction to the total fee, citing hundreds of pages of vague and redacted block billing entries.

What the court said

On the one hand, MBC submitted hundreds of pages of vague and redacted block billing entries.

On the one hand, MBC submitted hundreds of pages of vague and redacted block billing entries.

The court also reduced the award for: unrelated claims, hourly rate reduced.

Why it matters

The ruling shows that a court will reduce a contract-based fee award for entries that combine tasks and lack detail, and that recordkeeping problems can support a percentage cut applied across the whole fee request rather than an item-by-item adjustment.

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 W.D. Tennessee approves and attorney fee motions in Tennessee 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.