N.D. Texas cuts employment fee award 35.9%, including for vague entries

What happened

The plaintiff in an employment case asked for $155,200 in fees for 388 hours. The court awarded $99,456, a reduction of $55,744 or 35.9%, and 248.64 hours. It excluded 10 hours of vague entries and cut another entry by 20%, or 10 hours, for vagueness. It applied a 10% cut for duplicative staffing, a 10% cut noting the absence of contemporaneous billing records, a 15% cut for lack of billing judgment, and a 20% cut to a 155-hour entry for block billing.

What the court said

The Court excludes 10.0 hours for entries of Plaintiff’s counsel that are impermissibly vague.

the Court reduces this entry by 20%, or 10 hours. The Court, therefore, excludes 20 hours in total for vague entries.

This issue is exacerbated by the fact that Plaintiff offers no contemporaneous billing records.

The Court reduces 136.8 hours of Plaintiff’s 155.0 hour entry by an additional 20% for block billing

The court also reduced the award for: duplicative staffing, other.

Why it matters

The ruling shows that a fee petition can lose substantial value when time entries are vague, block billed, or unsupported by contemporaneous records. Courts may apply percentage cuts across remaining hours for recordkeeping problems, and those cuts compound with reductions for staffing and billing judgment.

How to keep this out of your fee petition

• Name the task, the document or person involved, and the purpose.
• Avoid stock phrases that could describe any day in any matter.
• Keep privileged detail general, but specific enough to show the work.

Cite this ruling

See hourly rates the N.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.