Ruling Affirms Slashed Fees for Lawyer Travel Time
A law firm has been rebuffed in its request for full hourly fees for time spent traveling without doing other work in a bankruptcy case.
The New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals approved a lower court ruling that cut in half a fee request by Caplin & Drysdale, the National Law Journal reports. The firm had sought $271,370 for time spent traveling on behalf of an asbestos claimants’ committee in the bankruptcy of The Babcock & Wilcox Co.
The court said in its May 1 opinion (PDF) that Caplin & Drysdale “did not carry the burden of demonstrating that ‘comparably skilled practitioners’ charged the full hourly rate for travel time.” The court noted that other opinions have allowed the award of fees at the full rate for travel time but said there does not appear to be a consensus among the courts.
The ruling said a bankruptcy court may approve less than the amount of requested fees and it did not abuse its discretion in this case.
Caplin & Drysdale partner Elihu Inselbuch had testified that it was the law firm’s practice to bill for travel time the same way it bills for other time, and that was also the practice at his previous firm, Gilbert, Siegel & Young.
