Opinion ID: 418106
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Reduction by One-Third of Reconstructed Time

Text: 7 Pursuant to interrogatories and the district court's request for substantiation of time incurred, plaintiffs' counsel submitted contemporaneous billing records for the vast majority of hours worked. Attorney Reeves, however, did not have contemporaneous records for the 100 hours she claimed to have worked. According to her testimony at the hearing, she reached the 100-hour figure based on diary entries and work product found in her files. The district court cut the hours by one-third for failure to maintain contemporaneous records. 8 The district court did not have to accept Reeves' claim of 100 hours as true, just as it would not have had to do so if the assertion had been supported by contemporaneous billing records. However, while the burden to substantiate a fee is on plaintiff's counsel, see Carr v. Blazer Financial Services, Inc., 598 F.2d 1368, 1371 (5th Cir.1979), Reeves' testimony and secondary documentation supports her claim. The lack of contemporaneous records does not justify an automatic reduction in the hours claimed. See Harkless v. Sweeny Independent School District, 608 F.2d 594, 597 (5th Cir.1979) (affirming award despite absence of time records). 9