D. Puerto Rico cuts employment fee award 44.1%, including for vague entries

What happened

The plaintiff sought $19,062.50 in Title VII fees. The court awarded $10,650, a reduction of $8,412.50 or 44.1%. It cut time for routine Rule 55(b)(2) notices to 0.2 hours each, halved one 0.8-hour entry to 0.4 hours, reduced a 0.9-hour entry to 0.4 hours, and cut 1.5 hours as excessive for trial time in an unopposed case. It also disallowed 1.5 hours as too vague to assess redundancy and 11.7 hours for a third attorney as duplicative.

What the court said

This entry is too generic and vague for the Court to assess whether the time spent was redundant.

The court also reduced the award for: excessive hours, excessive hours, excessive hours, excessive hours, duplicative staffing.

Why it matters

The ruling shows that courts will reduce fee awards when time entries are too general to assess redundancy, and will also trim hours for excessive or duplicative staffing even in an unopposed case.

How to keep this out of your fee petition

• Name the task, the document or person involved, and the purpose.
• Avoid stock phrases that could describe any day in any matter.
• Keep privileged detail general, but specific enough to show the work.

Cite this ruling

See hourly rates the D. Puerto Rico approves.

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.