PAUL L. FRIEDMAN, District Court.
This matter is before the Court on the motion for attorneys' fees, costs, and expenses filed by Faya Rose Toure, a/k/a Rose M. Sanders ("Ms. Sanders"), which seeks $11,871.20 for work performed and expenses incurred between January 1, 2015 and January 28, 2016, implementing the Consent Decree in this case. The United States Department of Agriculture ("USDA") does not dispute that Ms. Sanders is entitled to an appropriate fee for her work on the final implementation of the Consent Decree during a portion of this time. Upon consideration of Ms. Sanders's time records, the parties' arguments and documentary submissions, and the relevant legal authorities, the Court will grant Ms. Sanders's motion in part and deny it in part. It will award fees and expenses to Ms. Sanders in the amount of $7,500.
USDA argues that if fees are awarded, any fee award should be significantly reduced because Ms. Sanders's time sheets: (1) include three non-payable hours for work that Ms. Sanders performed after the entry of the Wind-down Stipulation and Order, Dkt. 2008, on November 2, 2015; (2) do not reflect contemporaneous record-keeping and therefore are unreliable; (3) lack sufficiently detailed descriptions of the work she performed, precluding adequate judicial review; (4) include non-payable hours she spent preparing a prior fee motion; (5) include non-payable hours she spent "revising a one-sentence WHEREAS clause in the wind-down stipulation, and contemplating whether to stipulate to her own revised language"; (6) include non-payable hours she spent discussing non-essential issues with her husband, Hank Sanders, a lawyer also representing the class; (7) include duplicative entries; and (8) include a number of specific time entries that are inflated.
For now, the Court will not address each one of USDA's separate arguments, but will offer the following observations. USDA's first argument has merit insofar as Ms. Sanders's time sheet includes three hours after November 2, 2015, and the Wind-down Stipulation and Order provides for fees "for legal work performed by . . . Faya Rose Toure . . . on the wind down . . . up to and including the date of entry of this Stipulation and Order."
Having reviewed the time records submitted and having carefully considered the submissions of counsel and the relevant case law, the Court concludes that a reasonable result under all the circumstances would be to award Ms. Sanders $7,500 in attorneys' fees, costs, and expenses. The Court therefore will grant Ms. Sanders's motion in part and give the parties thirty days to file a stipulation agreeing to this determination as a final decision with no right of appeal by any party. Alternatively, absent such an agreement, either side may file a motion to reopen or for reconsideration — which the Court will grant, after which it will decide whether on the merits movant has justified an award larger or smaller than $7,500. For these reasons, it is hereby
ORDERED that the Motion for Attorney's Fees, Costs, and Expenses, Incurred by Faya Rose Toure f/k/a Rose M. Sanders, For Implementation Work During the Period From January 1, 2015 — January 28, 2016, Dkt. 2023, is GRANTED in part and DENIED in part; it is
FURTHER ORDERED that the parties shall have thirty (30) days up to and including June 20, 2016 to submit a stipulation agreeing to this determination as a final decision with no right of appeal by any party, or, alternatively, a motion to reopen or reconsider; and it is
FURTHER ORDERED that, within thirty (30) days of the approval of the stipulation, the United States Department of Agriculture shall pay Ms. Sanders $7,500 in attorneys' fees, costs, and expenses.
SO ORDERED.