D. Kansas cuts commercial fee award 18.8%, including for clerical work

What happened

Skyline Trucking sought $53,301 in fees under a contract fee clause, with Moye White as counsel. The court awarded $43,280.10, a reduction of $10,020.90 or 18.8%. It deducted 2.4 hours and 1.1 hours billed as legal work but clerical in nature, moved 2.9 hours to a paralegal rate, lowered several hourly rates, and cut the total fee by 5% for excessive hours.

What the court said

In total, the court reduces DGV’s hours billed by 2.4 hours, as reflected in the Fees Table in the court’s conclusion, § V.

The court thus deducts 1.1 hours from KIJ’s total billing hours—again reflected in the Fees Table in § V.

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

Why it matters

The ruling shows courts will separate clerical tasks from legal work on a fee petition, reprice hours at paralegal rates, and adjust rates and totals, so time entries should distinguish task types and reflect reasonable staffing.

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. Kansas 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.