E.D. New York cuts commercial fee award 25% over clerical work

What happened

Levine Singh, LLP, counsel for the fee applicant, requested $2,000 for 4 hours of work in Superb Motors Inc. et al v. Deo et al. The court, Judge James M. Wicks, awarded $1,500 for 3 hours, a reduction of $500 or 25%. The court found that 1 hour of clerical work had been billed as legal work and concluded that a reduction of an hour was appropriate and necessary. The figures do not include costs.

What the court said

As a result, the undersigned finds that a reduction of an hour is appropriate and necessary.

Why it matters

The ruling shows that courts will reduce fee awards when time records do not separate clerical tasks from legal work, even in a small request, and that the reduction is applied hour by hour rather than as a percentage of the whole.

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 E.D. New York approves and attorney fee motions in New York federal courts.

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