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USDOL/OALJ Reporter
Hoffman v. Bossert,
94-CAA-4 (ARB Aug. 8, 1997)
U.S. Department of Labor
Administrative Review Board
200 Constitution Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20210
SUPPLEMENTAL DECISION AND ORDER
ON ATTORNEY FEES AND COSTS
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[Page 4]CONCLUSION
Administrative Review Board
200 Constitution Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20210
ARB CASE NO. 96-091
ALJ CASE NO. 94-CAA-004
DATE: August 8, 1997
In the Matter of:
RICHARD HOFFMAN,
COMPLAINANT,
v.
W. MAX BOSSERT and BOSS
INSULATION AND ROOFING, INC.,
RESPONDENTS.
BEFORE: THE ADMINISTRATIVE REVIEW BOARD
ON ATTORNEY FEES AND COSTS
In a 1995 Decision and Remand Order, the Secretary of Labor found that the Respondents, W. Max Bossert and Boss Insulation and Roofing, Inc. (Boss), violated the employee protection provision of the Clean Air Act, 42 U.S.C. § 7622 (1988), when
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Boss laid off the Complainant, Richard Hoffman, from his position as a roofer. The Secretary remanded the case to the ALJ to determine the complete remedy.
After receiving the ALJ's recommended decision on remand, the Board issued a Final Decision and Order (Final Decision) on January 22, 1997 in which it found that Hoffman is entitled to reinstatement, back pay, a specified amount representing attorney fees and the costs he incurred in bringing this complaint, through March 15, 1996. We explained that Hoffman's attorneys are entitled to payment of their reasonable fees and costs incurred since March 16, 1996 and permitted the parties to submit a petition for such additional fees and costs and a response. This decision corrects one typographical error in the Final Decision and orders Boss to pay a specified amount of additional fees and costs.
Correction to Final Decision
Paragraph 4 on page 8 of the Final Decision is corrected to read:
- Respondents shall pay to Complainant's attorneys $34,397.50 in attorney fees and $5,585.36 in costs for the period through March 15, 1996.
Additional Attorney Fees and Costs
In his Petition for Additional Attorney Fees and Costs, Hoffman seeks additional attorney fees of $4,512.00 and additional costs of $204.40. Boss objects to certain of the claimed fees and costs. We list below the claimed hours, fees, and the explanation given for items that we disallow either in whole or in part. We explain the reason for the disallowance after the chart.
Attorney No. of
Initials Date Hours Amount Explanation Given for Charge
SJS 03.28.96 0.8 $88.00 Delivered Supplemental Brief to
ALJ Office in Camden, NJ
SJS 04.08.96 0.4 $44.00 Received Recommended Decision
from ALJ
SJS 08.05.96 1.0 $110.00 Reviewed Dept. of Labor
Procedural Rules for filing
briefs; revised Service List;
received EM's comments
SJS 08.06.96 3.4 $374.00 Finalized Brief and Cover
Letter; checked Dept. of Labor
Rules for form of Briefs,
service requirements, etc.
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SJS 08.07.96 0.6 $66.00 Delivered Brief to U.S. Dept.
of Labor in Washington, DC
SJS 09.11.96 2.0 $220.00 Revise Brief; go to Jenkins Law
Library to look up proper
citations; discuss with EM
JM 01.28.97 0.7 $87.50 Received copy of decision of
Secretary of Labor - conference
with SJS re same.
SJS 01.29.97 0.9 $99.00 Call from Dick Hoffman; Dick
will send me information on his
1995 and 1996 income; request
itemized information from
accounting for supplemental fee
petitions; discuss order with
EM.
We disallow the fee of $88.00 on March 29, 1996 and of $66.00 on
August 7, 1996 because the charges are for attorney time to hand deliver briefs where either
courier service or overnight mail was available. We find these charges not to be reasonably
incurred in bringing the complaint. We note that Hoffman's attorney correctly did not charge
for his time to hand deliver the rebuttal brief. Affidavit of Scott J. Schwarz at p. 4, par. 14.
We disallow $44 charged on April 8, 1996 for receiving the ALJ's recommended decision, since receiving a document is a ministerial task that may be accomplished by support staff. In contrast, we have allowed other charges for reviewing the ALJ's and Secretary's decisions in this case.
We disallow $55 of the $110 charged on August 5, 1996 and $55 of the $374 charged on August 6, 1996 as excessive for the tasks listed. Concerning the $220 charged on September 11, 1996, we disallow $110 for charging for attorney time to walk to a law library to look up proper citations because we find that this charge was not reasonably incurred in bringing the complaint.
For charges in 1997, we disallow $43.75 of the $87.50 charge on January 28, 1997 because it includes a charge for receiving a decision of the Secretary. We also disallow $49.50 of the $99 charge on January 29, 1997 as excessive.
We have disallowed a total of $511.25 of the claimed attorney fees. We find that all other attorney's fees and costs reasonably were incurred in bringing this complaint. Where Hoffman has listed small charges for telephone calls and for photocopies,
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we understand these costs to be reasonably incurred in bringing the complaint and therefore we allow these costs.
The January 22, 1997 Final Decision and Order of is corrected as noted above. Respondents shall pay to Complainant's attorneys additional attorney fees of $4000.75 and costs of $204.40.
SO ORDERED.
DAVID A. O'BRIEN
Chair
KARL J. SANDSTROM
Member
JOYCE D. MILLER
Alternate Member
