Opinion ID: 4363098
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Allowable Hours

Text: To arrive at an award “reasonably commensurate with the necessary work done,” 20 C.F.R. § 725.366(b), agency adjudicators must review for and exclude “excessive, redundant, or otherwise unnecessary” time entries. Hensley v. Eckerhart, 461 U.S. 424, 434 (1983). Our review -5- Case No. 18-3514, Maddox v. Lodestar Energy, Inc. for abuse of discretion affords the ALJ and the BRB considerable deference in deciding whether hours represented in a fee petition are excessive. See B & G Mining, 522 F.3d at 666–67; see also Zeigler Coal Co. v. Dir., Office of Workers’ Comp. Programs, 326 F.3d 894, 902–903 (7th Cir. 2003). “As long as the total number of billable hours is reasonable in relation to the work performed” and the adjudicators’ decision is supported by the record, the award should be affirmed. B & G Mining, 522 F.3d at 666. Vowels contends that the ALJ arbitrarily reduced or disallowed billable time entries that she deemed clerical, excessive, or otherwise non-compensable. In fact, the ALJ and BRB conducted thorough reviews and reached conclusions well supported by the record that certain tasks at issue were clerical. For example, the ALJ reviewed each challenged billing entry on an individual basis and reduced the time entries in the few instances where the task descriptions revealed their clerical nature by mentioning invoices and transcript orders. Because the record shows the adjudicators carefully reviewed Vowels’s submission and because they are “in a much better position than the appellate court to make this determination,” Zeigler Coal, 326 F.3d at 903, we find no abuse of discretion in the hours awarded.