Attorney Fees
Appeals Court Hits Law Firm for ‘Vague, Indecipherable Billing Statements’
Posted Aug 15, 2008, 08:58 am CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss
A California appeals court has cut nearly $230,000 off of a request for $250,000 in attorney fees in an opinion that accuses the lawyers seeking the money of apparently padding their bills.
The opinion did not identify the law firm, but opposing appellate lawyer Tom Chun told Legal Pad the lead lawyer in the case was Kevin Kieffer of Ross, Dixon & Bell. The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California also billed for work on the case, an anti-SLAPP suit. Kiefer didn’t return the publication’s phone call for comment.
The appeals court opinion (PDF) said the trial judge was probably justified in finding that the fee request was “unreasonably padded, vague and worthy of little credence,” Legal Pad reports.
“Substantial evidence supports the trial court’s conclusion,” the court said, “[that] counsel leavened the fee request with non-compensable hours and vague, indecipherable billing statements, destroying the credibility of the submission and therefore justifying a severe reduction.”