E.D. Kentucky cuts social security fee award 30.4%, including for clerical work

What happened

The plaintiff in Whitley v. SSA sought $9,650.01 in fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act, including costs, for 53.3 hours. The court awarded $6,719, a reduction of $2,931.01 or 30.4 percent, and 29.2 hours. It cut 22.6 hours by 75.3 percent for duplicative staffing, struck 1.0 hour for preparation of a pro hac vice motion, and disallowed 1.0 hour of clerical work billed as legal work.

What the court said

This is a clerical or secretarial task.

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

Why it matters

The ruling shows that courts will separate clerical tasks from legal work and reduce fees for entries that do not reflect legal judgment, even in a modest EAJA request, so time records should distinguish the two.

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

attorney fee motions in Kentucky federal courts.

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