D. Oregon cuts civil rights fee award 0.9%, including for clerical work

What happened

The plaintiffs, represented by A Better Childhood, sought $10,920,301 in fees under 42 U.S.C. § 1988. The court awarded $10,826,835.50, a reduction of $93,465.50 or 0.9%. It lowered several hourly rates, disallowed $7,166 for document clerks whose clerical tasks it said are part of firm overhead, cut $7,980 for unrelated claims, and reduced paralegal hours by 98.4, or $24,600, for excessive media work.

What the court said

Clerical tasks are properly subsumed within the firm overhead ... The Court will disallow separate fees for document clerks. This will reduce the fees claimed by Davis Wright Tremaine by $7,166.00.

The court also reduced the award for: hourly rate reduced, hourly rate reduced, hourly rate reduced, hourly rate reduced, hourly rate reduced, hourly rate reduced, hourly rate reduced, hourly rate reduced, hourly rate reduced, unrelated claims, excessive hours.

Why it matters

The ruling shows that courts will separate clerical tasks from legal work on a fee petition and will not compensate document clerks at legal rates, even when the overall reduction is small relative to the total award.

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 D. Oregon approves and attorney fee motions in Oregon 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.