D. Arizona cuts fee award 17.8%, including for clerical work

What happened

Smith sought $133,125 in fees. The bankruptcy court awarded $109,455, a reduction of $23,670, or 17.8%. The district court affirmed. It agreed with disallowing $750 for research on multi-district enforcement of bankruptcy court judgments, with reducing fees for work the bankruptcy court treated as paraprofessional services, and with finding work by General Counsel on The Ranch unnecessarily duplicative. It also denied fees for the Homestead Exemption litigation and the appeals that followed, covering 52.1 hours.

What the court said

The Court also agrees with the Bankruptcy Court in reducing fees for services that it considered paraprofessional services.

The court also reduced the award for: duplicative staffing, duplicative staffing, unrelated claims.

Why it matters

The ruling shows that a district court reviewing a bankruptcy fee award will defer to reductions for time that is duplicative, clerical in nature, or tied to unsuccessful claims. Time records that separate legal work from paraprofessional tasks and unsuccessful claims give a reviewing court a clearer basis to affirm the award.

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. Arizona approves and attorney fee motions in Arizona 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.