Opinion ID: 658201
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Determination of reasonable hours

Text: 29 Following Ray's resubmission of his fee request on remand, the district court will need to decide how many hours were reasonably expended in the conduct of the federal litigation in order to calculate Ray's fee award. Previously, the district court found only 800 hours devoted to the federal litigation of which 560 were found to be compensable. (Supp.R.1-400 at 2). A review of Ray's fee request and the record convince us that many of the hours expended in the conduct of this litigation were excessive, redundant or otherwise unnecessary. See Hensley, 461 U.S. at 434, 103 S.Ct. at 1939-40. The record is replete with long, rambling documents filed by Ray, which contain more rhetoric than substance. The fee request evidences patently excessive expenditures of time throughout the litigation. 8 Ray seeks, for example, compensation for over 100 hours for preparing his initial fee request. The trial on the merits in this case consumed only 2 1/2 days. 30 Ray argues that the district court failed to explain, in derogation of Norman v. Housing Auth., 836 F.2d 1292, 1304 (11th Cir.1988), which of the 800 hours were disallowed and why. Norman is one of a long line of decisions in this circuit applying the rule that when hours are disallowed the court should identify the hours disallowed and explain why they are disallowed. 9 The instant case evades the application of Norman. Implicit in the Norman hour-by-hour rule is the assumption that a district judge can feasibly and expeditiously engage in such a precise review. Where fee documentation is voluminous, such as in the instant case, an hour-by-hour review is simply impractical and a waste of judicial resources. Hence, the instant case falls outside the Norman hour-by-hour rule. This court has not previously addressed the question of whether fee documentation can be so voluminous as to render an hour-by-hour review impractical. 31 Other circuits have grappled with the question, and have almost uniformly held that where a fee application is voluminous, an hour-by-hour analysis of a fee request is not required. See, e.g., Jacobs v. Mancuso, 825 F.2d 559, 562 (1st Cir.1987); Mares v. Credit Bureau of Raton, 801 F.2d 1197, 1202-03 (10th Cir.1986); New York Ass'n for Retarded Children, Inc. v. Carey, 711 F.2d 1136, 1146 (2d Cir.1983); Copeland v. Marshall, 641 F.2d 880, 903 (D.C.Cir.1980). In fact, given a voluminous application, most circuits recognize the utility of across-the-board percentage cuts either in the number of hours claimed or in the final lodestar figure. See id. This approach does not relieve district courts of the requirement to concisely but clearly articulate their reasons for selecting specific percentage reductions. See Gates v. Deukmejian, 987 F.2d 1392, 1399 (9th Cir.1992). Some circuits explicitly state that the adequacy of a court's explanation should be carefully scrutinized where substantial fees are involved. See, e.g., Gates, 987 F.2d at 1399; In re Continental Illinois Sec. Litig., 962 F.2d 566, 570 (7th Cir.1992); In re Fine Paper Antitrust Litig., 751 F.2d 562, 594-95 (3d Cir.1984). Regardless, a court's explanation must provide for meaningful review. See, e.g., Gates, 987 F.2d at 1400. When faced with a massive fee application, however, an hour-by-hour review is both impractical and a waste of judicial resources. See Copeland, 641 F.2d at 903. 32 We adopt our sister circuits' position regarding review of voluminous fee applications. In a case like this one, where the fee motion and supporting documents are so voluminous, it is sufficient for the court to provide a concise but clear explanation of its reasons for the reduction. Accordingly, on remand the district court need not engage in an hour-by-hour analysis. Rather, once the district court determines how many hours were actually devoted to the conduct of the federal litigation, it may then reduce that figure in gross if a review of the resubmitted fee request warrants such a reduction.