S.D. Texas cuts consumer protection fee award 2.9% over clerical work

What happened

Lemberg Law, LLC, counsel for the plaintiff in a Fair Debt Collection Practices Act case, requested $10,417.50 in fees for 36.9 hours. The court awarded $10,117.50, a reduction of $300.00, or 2.9%. The court found that 3.0 hours of paralegal time was spent on clerical tasks and excluded that time from the award. The figures do not include costs.

What the court said

the Court finds that 3.0 hours of paralegal time was spent on clerical tasks.

Why it matters

The ruling shows that courts will separate clerical tasks from legal work when reviewing time records, even when the reduction is small. A single line item for paralegal clerical time can be removed from a fee award, so the description of each task in the records matters.

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