Summary
The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia ruled on Michael Banks’s motion for attorneys’ fees and costs following a jury verdict finding that the City of Virginia Beach retaliated against him under Title VII and awarding $137,000 in damages. The court partially reduced the requested fees for block billing, pre-engagement work, travel time, duplicative prior-counsel work, and other issues. It approved $94,202.35 in attorneys’ fees and $1,280.82 in expenses, with post-judgment interest accruing from September 26, 2025.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- What attorneys’ fees and costs were reasonably recoverable by Banks as the prevailing plaintiff in the Title VII retaliation action?
- Whether the requested hourly rate and billed hours should be reduced for clerical work, travel, pre-engagement work, block billing, vague or noncontemporaneous entries, and other billing deficiencies.
- Whether fees and costs incurred by Banks’s prior counsel were compensable and whether the requested costs were adequately documented.
- Whether Banks was entitled to post-judgment interest on the approved fee and expense award.
Holdings
- A prevailing plaintiff in civil-rights litigation should recover a reasonable attorneys’ fee absent special circumstances that would make the award unjust, and Banks was entitled to recover reasonable fees because he succeeded on a significant Title VII retaliation claim and obtained a jury damages award.
- The reasonable fee was calculated using the lodestar method, with reasonable hours multiplied by a reasonable hourly rate, and the court reduced the request for inadequately documented block billing, engagement-related time, and travel time.
- Purely clerical work is not compensable at an attorney rate, but the challenged entries here were largely legal or litigation-related; work performed before formal appearance was compensable when tied to the litigation, while time spent solely discussing engagement terms was excluded. Prior counsel’s nonduplicative litigation fees were recoverable, but duplicative summary-judgment work and late fees were excluded. Properly supported costs of $1,280.82 were recoverable.
Key quotations
“A prevailing plaintiff should recover attorneys’ fees “unless special circumstances would render such an award unjust.”” (at 2)
“The Supreme Court has stated there is a “strong presumption” that the lodestar figure represents a reasonable attorneys’ fee” (at 3)
“Although Plaintiff's counsel’s time entries could be more organized, the Court does not find the amount of time spent on any clerical work included in these entries to be significant enough to warrant a reduction.” (at 6)
“The Court cannot award attorneys’ fees based on an unspecific estimate that may have been speculated retroactively or over a lengthy period of time.” (at 9)
“After review of the motion, the Court hereby APPROVES $94,202.35 in attorneys’ fees and $1,280.82 in expenses.” (at 14)
Factual background
Banks prevailed before a jury on a Title VII retaliation claim against the City of Virginia Beach and received a $137,000 damages award. His counsel sought fees for 223.1 hours at an hourly rate of $350, travel time, costs, and fees and costs incurred by prior counsel. The City challenged the hourly rate, clerical and travel billing, pre-engagement work, block billing, prior counsel’s fees, and the documentation and reasonableness of costs.
Procedural history
Banks filed an amended Title VII complaint, and a four-day jury trial followed. On September 26, 2025, the jury found that the City retaliated against Banks and awarded him $137,000 in damages. Banks then moved for attorneys’ fees and costs, including fees incurred by prior counsel. The court granted the motion in part and denied it in part, approving $94,202.35 in attorneys’ fees and $1,280.82 in expenses.