E.D. Pennsylvania cuts employment fee award 42.1%, including for clerical work

What happened

Derek Smith Law Group sought $228,193.30 in Title VII fees for Watson. The court awarded $132,043, a reduction of $96,150.30 or 42.1%. It lowered hourly rates as excessive given market rates and counsel's moderate experience, excluded administrative tasks billed as legal work, struck unreasonably duplicative time, removed excessive hours including 4.9 hours of initial file review by Nathaniel Peckham, and cut 4 hours for limited success on issues relating to Dr. Glick.

What the court said

The Court agrees with the Defendant that the below timesheet filings are administrative tasks for which Plaintiff's counsel should not be compensated.

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

Why it matters

The ruling shows that a fee award can be reduced on several independent grounds at once, and that time records matter: entries for clerical tasks, duplicative staffing, and excessive or unsupported hours are each subject to exclusion, while rates are tested against the market and counsel's experience.

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 E.D. Pennsylvania approves and attorney fee motions in Pennsylvania federal courts.

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