E.D. California cuts consumer protection fee award 3.1% over block billing

What happened

The plaintiffs in a consumer protection case asked for $107,597.50 in attorney fees for 226.9 hours. The court awarded $104,255, a reduction of $3,342.50 or 3.1%, and 219.2 hours. It found many time entries were block billed and cut those entries by 10%. For block-billed entries that included clerical tasks, the court applied a 20% reduction instead. The figures do not include costs.

What the court said

According to this understanding of block billing, many of plaintiffs' time entries submitted in support of their pending motion are block billed. ... The court will reduce such time entries by 10%.

Therefore, the court will reduce by 20%, rather than 10%, those block billed time entries containing clerical tasks.

Why it matters

The ruling shows that courts will reduce fees when time entries combine multiple tasks, and that mixing clerical work into block-billed entries draws a larger cut. Even a modest overall reduction can follow from how time records are kept, so the format of entries matters on a fee petition.

How to keep this out of your fee petition

• Record one task per entry, each with its own time.
• Write the entry when the work happens, not at the end of the week.
• If a task really is one unit of work, say what it was and what it produced.

Cite this ruling

See hourly rates the E.D. California approves and attorney fee motions in California 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.