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

What happened

O'Donoghue & O'Donoghue LLP sought fees under ERISA for the Trustees of the National Asbestos Workers Medical Fund. The court did not state totals. It recommended deducting 2.7 hours from Attorney Venable's 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 time on the fee motion, and 3 hours for excessive time on the amended default judgment motion.

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 separate clerical tasks from legal work and reduce hours when entries do not identify the task performed. It also shows that time spent on fee litigation and default judgment papers is reviewed for reasonableness, with hours cut even where the court did not state a total 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 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.