D. Minnesota cuts consumer protection fee award 35.1%, including for clerical work

What happened

The Barry Law Office, Ltd. sought $60,765 in fees under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act for 94.4 hours. The court awarded $39,408, a reduction of $21,357 or 35.1%. It declined the requested hourly rate for lack of evidence supporting the increase. It cut 10.6 hours of administrative and clerical work and 2.5 hours of anticipated time, then applied 20% reductions to the total hours for vague entries, unrelated claims, and excessive hours.

What the court said

Thus, in total, the Court will discount 10.6 hours from Barry's time entries, because this time comprises administrative and clerical work.

the Court initially discounts the entry dated July 26, 2024, in the amount of 2.5 hours for "[a]nticipated time for preparation, travel, and attendance at oral argument on October 15, 2024."

First, many of Barry's time entries are too vague for the Court to discern whether the work performed was reasonably performed.

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

Why it matters

The ruling shows that a fee petition must document the basis for the hourly rate and separate clerical tasks from legal work. Courts will reduce hours when entries are too vague to assess reasonableness, and they may apply percentage cuts for unrelated claims and work that did not require the attorney's expertise.

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. Minnesota approves and attorney fee motions in Minnesota federal courts.

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