Employment, Reasonableness Of Fees, Substantiation Of Reasonableness Of Fees: Third Circuit Court Of Appeals Affirms Denial Of Fees Where Wage/Hour Plaintiffs Had Limited Success And Fee Petition Was Not Properly Documented

Plaintiffs Only Recovered $6,601 Out Of Requested $180,000 In Damages And Attorneys Sought $118,569 In Fees.

            In Wang v. Chapei, LLC, Case No. 20-2975 (3d Cir. June 10, 2021) (nonprecendential), two wage/hour plaintiffs had their federal claim dismissed, were unsuccessful on class certification tries, and won about $6,601 out of a requested $180,000 in damages under a state statute with an employee-friendly fee shifting provision.  The district judge denied their $118,569 fee request in entirety based on (1) plaintiffs’ limited success, (2) the attorneys failing to justify their claimed hourly rates, and (3) sloppy fee petition drafting where the rate request was erroneously requested for over ten times the correct amount.  The Third Circuit affirmed, finding no abuse of discretion as well as indicating employment litigators should not expect large fee awards where the results were meager.