S.D. Florida cuts intellectual property fee award 5% over block billing

What happened

McGuireWoods, counsel for the fee applicant, requested $2,514,612.19 in fees for 4,502 hours in this intellectual property case. The magistrate judge recommended awarding $2,388,881.40, a reduction of $125,730.79, or 5.0%. The sole reduction was an across-the-board 5% cut to the requested fees to account for block billing. The figures do not include costs.

What the court said

the undersigned recommends an across-the-board 5% reduction to the requested fees to account for counsel’s block billing.

Why it matters

The ruling shows that a court may apply a uniform percentage cut to the whole fee request when time entries are block billed, rather than parsing each entry. It also shows that a modest reduction can follow even where block billing is the only recordkeeping problem the court identifies.

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 S.D. Florida approves and attorney fee motions in Florida 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.