S.D. Florida cuts ERISA benefits fee award, including for clerical work

What happened

The Trustees of the National Asbestos Workers Medical Fund, represented by O'Donoghue & O'Donoghue LLP, sought attorney fees under ERISA. The court did not state totals. It recommended deducting 2.7 hours from Attorney Venable's billed time for clerical work billed as legal work, 1 hour for an entry that did not specify which order was reviewed, 2 hours for excessive billing on the motion for fees and costs, and 3 hours for excessive billing on the amended motion for default judgment.

What the court said

Accordingly, the Court recommends deducting 2.7 hours (.5 + 1 + .4 +.3 +. 5) from Attorney Venable's total hours billed to account for the billing of clerical work.

the Court recommends deducting 1 hour from the total hours billed by Attorney Venable because Attorney Venable fails to specify what Order he reviewed and because any Order he may have reviewed did not necessitate 1 hour for review.

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

Why it matters

The ruling shows that courts will reduce hours when time entries do not distinguish clerical tasks from legal work or identify the document reviewed, and when the hours claimed for a motion exceed what the task required.

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. 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.