S.D. Florida cuts wage and hour fee award 13.6%, including for clerical work

What happened

The plaintiff's counsel sought $20,640 in fees under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The court awarded $17,840, a reduction of $2,800. It reduced the hourly rate, finding the rate counsel cited from a recent award in the district to be in keeping with rates commonly awarded there. It also reduced fees for apparent double billing, where two attorneys charged for tasks that required only one, and for entries on docket review and other simple functions that appeared excessive. The court then applied an additional 10 percent across-the-board cut to the hours.

What the court said

the Court observed several entries spent on tasks such as reviewing docket entries and other simple functions that, read together, appear excessive.

The court also reduced the award for: hourly rate reduced, duplicative staffing, excessive hours.

Why it matters

The ruling shows that courts will reduce fee awards when time entries show more than one attorney billing for the same task and when simple clerical functions are recorded as legal work. It also confirms that a court may apply a further across-the-board percentage cut after identifying specific problems in the billing records.

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.