Kenny A. Ex Rel. Winn v. Perdue

ORDER

Before the Court are plaintiffs’ application for an award of attorneys’ fees and expenses of litigation; State Defendants’ *1266 motion for review of taxation of costs by the Clerk of Court; and plaintiffs’ motion for an interim award of attorneys.’ fees, costs, and expenses. The Court’s rulings are set out below. 1

Introduction

This class action brought on behalf of foster children in Fulton and DeKalb Counties has been one of the most complex and difficult cases that the undersigned has handled in more than 27 years on the bench. Now that the matter has been successfully concluded through entry of a Consent Decree, one difficult issue remains: what is a reasonable amount of attorneys’ fees and expenses to be awarded to plaintiffs’ counsel? The parties do not dispute that plaintiffs’ counsel are entitled to an award, but they differ widely on the appropriate amount of the award.

Plaintiffs, applying both lodestar and percentage-of-the-benefit approaches, seek a fee award of $14,342,868. This amount represents an enhancement of plaintiffs’ claimed lodestar figure by a multiplier of two, as well as approximately 8.5% of the $168,688,220 common benefit that plaintiffs claim they generated for the plaintiff class. Plaintiffs also seek an award of $1,658,341.38 in expenses, almost half of which was expended on experts. Included in this figure are costs already taxed by the Clerk pursuant to a bill of costs in the total amount of $549,808.43, most of which ($467,323.32) was spent for exemplification and copies of documents.

State Defendants contend that all of these amounts are unreasonable and grossly excessive. Arguing that a percentage-of-the-benefit approach is not appropriate, State Defendants contend that a reasonable lodestar figure would be $2,971,754.52 and that no enhancement of the lodestar is warranted in this case. State Defendants also contend that none of plaintiffs’ expert expenses are recoverable, and that an appropriate award for nontaxable expenses is $189,326.08. Finally, State Defendants object to a large portion of plaintiffs’ claimed copying costs and argue that the costs taxed by the Clerk should be reduced to $95,485.08.

Procedural History

As essential background to evaluating plaintiffs’ request for fees and expenses, it is important first of all to appreciate the enormous time and effort involved in litigating this complex matter. Therefore, before turning to the specifics of plaintiffs’ request, the Court will briefly review the procedural history of the case. As this history demonstrates, State Defendants vigorously fought plaintiffs’ claims for almost three years, filing both motions to dismiss and for summary judgment, as well as seeking repeatedly to limit plaintiffs’ discovery efforts. This strategy of resistance undoubtedly prolonged this litigation and substantially increased the amount of fees and expenses that plaintiffs were required to incur.

The complaint in this action was filed on June 6, 2002, in the Superior Court of Fulton County. There were nine named plaintiffs, all foster children in the custody of the Georgia Department of Human Resources, who sought to represent a class of all foster children in Fulton and DeKalb Counties and a subclass of African-American foster children. Plaintiffs were represented by attorneys from Children’s Rights, Inc. (CRI), a New York-based advocacy organization for children, and the Atlanta-based Keenan’s Kids Law Center. Shortly thereafter, the Atlanta law firm of Bondurant, Mixon & Elmore (BME) joined the case as co-counsel for plaintiffs. 2

*1267 The 75-page complaint asserted fifteen causes of action under both federal and state law based on alleged systemic deficiencies in foster care in both Fulton and DeKalb Counties. The alleged deficiencies included (1) assigning excessive numbers of cases to inadequately trained and poorly supervised caseworkers; (2) not developing a sufficient number of foster homes properly screened to ensure the plaintiff children’s safety; (3) not identifying adult relatives who could care for the plaintiff children as an alternative to strangers or impersonal institutions; (4) failing to provide relevant information and support services to foster parents in order to prevent foster placements from being disrupted; (5) failing to develop administrative controls such as an information management system that ensures plaintiff children are expeditiously placed in a foster home matched to meet the children’s specific needs; (6) failing to provide timely and appropriate permanency planning, including failing to provide services that would enable plaintiffs to achieve their permanency planning goals; (7) placing plaintiffs in dangerous, unsanitary, inappropriate shelters and other placements; (8) failing to provide appropriate and necessary mental health, medical, and education services to children in their custody; and (9) separating teenage mothers in foster care from their own children and separating siblings in foster care from each other without providing visitation. (ComplYH 39-97.) Plaintiffs sought declaratory and injunctive relief to correct these alleged deficiencies.

The named defendants were the Governor of Georgia, the Georgia Department of Human Resources and its Commissioner, the Fulton County Department of Family and Children Services and its Director, and the DeKalb County Department of Family and Children Services and its Director (State Defendants). Plaintiffs also sued Fulton and DeKalb Counties for their alleged failure to provide foster children with adequate and effective legal representation. Those claims were resolved in separate settlements reached between plaintiffs and each county. Since the pending motions involve only fees and expenses related to plaintiffs’ claims against State Defendants, this procedural history omits any reference to matters involving only the claims against Fulton and DeKalb Counties.

On June 19, 2002, defendants removed the case to this Court. On July 1, 2002, the Court granted plaintiffs’ motion for expedited discovery regarding one aspect of the case: the safety and well-being of foster children housed in Fulton and De-Kalb Counties’ two emergency children’s shelters. On September 19, 2002, plaintiffs filed an 80-page motion and brief seeking a preliminary injunction prohibiting defendants from continuing to operate the shelters in a manner that allegedly violated plaintiffs’ legal rights. State Defendants filed a 57-page response, and plaintiffs filed a 19-page reply. In November 2002, the Court held four days of hearings on the motion, during which the parties presented voluminous documentary evidence as well as both fact and expert witnesses. The parties then submitted more than 200 pages of proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law.

On December 12, 2002, the Court entered an Order finding that plaintiffs had established numerous major deficiencies in the foster care system in general and in the emergency shelters in particular. Nevertheless, in reliance on State Defendants’ assurances that they planned to close the shelters and provide safe alternative emergency placements for children as well as address other deficiencies in the foster care system, and based largely on *1268 the Court’s confidence in the integrity and competence of then-Commissioner of Human Resources Jim Martin, the Court denied the motion for a preliminary injunction without prejudice to its being renewed by plaintiffs if State Defendants failed to fulfill their promise. State Defendants subsequently reported to the Court that the Fulton and DeKalb shelters had both been closed, thus mooting plaintiffs’ claims relating to the shelters.

Meanwhile, on November 4, 2002, State Defendants filed a 44-page motion to dismiss, which argued that the Court was required to abstain from hearing plaintiffs’ claims under Younger v. Harris, 401 U.S. 37, 91 S.Ct. 746, 27 L.Ed.2d 669 (1971), because the proceedings would impermissi-bly interfere with ongoing juvenile court proceedings. State Defendants also argued that plaintiffs’ claims were barred by the Rooker-Feldman doctrine. See District of Columbia Ct. of Appeals v. Feldman, 460 U.S. 462, 486, 103 S.Ct. 1303, 75 L.Ed.2d 206 (1983); Rooker v. Fidelity Trust Co., 263 U.S. 413, 415-16, 44 S.Ct. 149, 68 L.Ed. 362 (1923). Alternatively, State Defendants contended that most of plaintiffs’ federal and state law claims failed to state a claim on which relief could be granted. State Defendants also filed a brief opposing class certification on the grounds that Younger abstention was required and that plaintiffs could not satisfy the commonality and typicality requirements.

While the Court took plaintiffs’ motion for class certification and State Defendants’ motion to dismiss under advisement, the parties proceeded with discovery, though not without resistance from State Defendants. At one point, the Court was forced to admonish State Defendants for “relying on technical legal objections to discovery requests in order to delay and hinder the discovery process.” Order of January 7, 2003, at 4.

On July 7, 2003, the Court issued an Order extending fact discovery through October 31, 2003, and expert discovery through January 30, 2004. On August 18, 2003, the Court entered an Order denying State Defendants’ motion to dismiss (except with regard to plaintiffs’ shelter claims, which were dismissed as moot) and granting plaintiffs’ motion for class certification. Kenny A. v. Perdue, 218 F.R.D. 277 (N.D.Ga.2003).

On February 20, 2004, following the close of discovery, State Defendants filed a motion for summary judgment. The motion was supported by a 74-page memorandum and a 126-page Statement of Undisputed Material Facts consisting of 612 separately number paragraphs, as well as a 48-page Statement of Legislative Facts consisting of 74 separately numbered paragraphs. In addition, State Defendants’ motion was supported by six affidavits comprising more than 30 pages and by three volumes of appendices consisting of three expert reports and voluminous additional documents.

On April 5, 2004, plaintiffs filed a 96-page memorandum in opposition to State Defendants’ motion for summary judgment together with a Statement of Disputed Material Facts that included a paragraph-by-paragraph response to State Defendants’ Statement of Undisputed Material Facts. Plaintiffs’ response was supported by four volumes of appendices comprising 178 exhibits. Plaintiffs also filed some 36 depositions together with voluminous deposition exhibits.

On May 7, 2004, State Defendants filed a 46-page reply brief. Then, on May 19, 2004, State Defendants filed a 38-page Daubert motion seeking to exclude the reports and testimony of all four of plaintiffs’ experts. On June 7, 2004, plaintiffs filed a 25-page response together with copies of each of the experts’ reports, totaling over *1269 400 pages. Depositions of each of the experts were also filed with the Court. On June 21, 2004, State Defendants filed a 16-page reply brief.

Meanwhile, on May 27, 2004, the Court held a case management conference and set a trial date of early January 2005. In an effort to encourage settlement discussions, the Court directed plaintiffs to make a settlement offer within 30 days. On July 30, 2004, the Court entered an Order establishing a schedule for the parties to update discovery previously obtained, for plaintiffs to conduct updated case record and investigative file reviews, and for production of supplemental expert reports and related discovery. The Court also directed the parties to report on the progress of settlement discussions. Finally, the Court pushed the trial date back to February 14, 2005, and directed the parties to file their proposed consolidated pretrial order by January 31, 2005.

On August 13, 2004, reports from the parties indicated that settlement discussions were at an impasse. Therefore, the Court decided to refer the case to mediation and directed the parties to attempt to agree upon a qualified mediator or else submit separate lists of proposed mediators. The parties were unable to agree on a mediator and each side objected to all of the mediators proposed by the other side. Consequently, the Court decided to appoint a mediator of its own choosing and on October 25, 2004, entered an Order appointing retired Georgia Court of Appeals Judge Dorothy Toth Beasley to serve as mediator.

On December 13, 2004, the Court entered an Order denying State Defendants’ motion for summary judgment and motion to exclude the reports and testimony of plaintiffs’ experts. State Defendants promptly filed a motion to amend the Order to permit an immediate interlocutory appeal. While that motion was pending, efforts at mediation began in earnest. According to Judge Beasley, over the next four months the parties attended eighteen separate mediation sessions where they spent more than 110 hours trying to hammer out a settlement agreement.

On January 13, 2005, in order to facilitate mediation efforts and at the joint request of the parties, the Court entered an Order postponing the due date of the pretrial order until February 18, 2005, and postponing the trial date indefinitely. As mediation proceeded, the parties requested and the Court granted another extension of the due date of the pretrial order until March 25, 2005. No further extensions were formally granted but as the parties continued to make progress in their settlement efforts, the Court suspended the deadline for filing the pretrial order indefinitely so that they could concentrate on mediation.

Finally, the parties reached agreement on all issues (except attorneys’ fees). On July 5, 2005, they filed a joint motion for preliminary approval of the settlement agreement. The Court granted the motion and scheduled a fairness hearing for September 21, 2005. After considering the comments and objections of all interested parties, on October 27, 2005, the Court entered an Order approving the proposed Consent Decree.

As part of the Consent Decree, the parties agreed that plaintiffs were entitled to recover their expenses of litigation, including reasonable attorneys’ fees and nontaxable expenses, pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1988 and Fed.R.Civ.P. 23(h). Consent Decree § 22. However, the parties were unable to reach agreement as to the appropriate amount of fees and expenses to be awarded.

On November 28, 2005, plaintiffs filed a bill of costs totaling $549,808.43, including $467,323.32 for “exemplification and copies *1270 of papers necessarily obtained for use in the case.” On January 18, 2006, the Clerk formally taxed these costs.

On December 9, 2005, plaintiffs moved for an award of attorneys’ fees in the amount of $14,342,860 and nontaxable costs in the amount of $1,679,115.46. 3 In support of their motion plaintiffs submitted the declarations of CRI lead attorney Marcia Robinson Lowry, CRI staff attorney Sara M. Bartosz, BME lead attorney Jeffrey O. Bramlett, and Atlanta attorneys Ralph Knowles, Ralph Goldberg, John A. Chandler, Henry A. Fellows, Jr., and James C. Rawls. Attached to Ms. Lowry’s and Mr. Bramlett’s declarations were nearly 2,500 pages of time and expense records. According to their summary of those records, plaintiffs’ counsel expended 29,908.73 hours on this case. Based on claimed hourly rates for attorneys ranging from $215 to $495 and for paralegals and interns ranging from $75 to $150, this time results in a lodestar fee of $7,171,434.30. Plaintiffs seek an award of twice this amount, both as an enhancement of the lodestar and as a percentage of the common benefit plaintiffs claim they generated for the plaintiff class.

In their response, filed January 4, 2006, and a separate motion for review of taxation of costs filed on January 19, 2006, State Defendants contend that all of these amounts are excessive. They argue that a reasonable award in this case would be $2,971,754.52 in attorneys’ fees plus $189,326.08 in nontaxable expenses and $95,485.08 in taxable costs.

On January 27, 2006, plaintiffs filed a motion for an interim award of attorneys’ fees, costs, and expenses in the amounts acknowledged by State Defendants to be reasonable. Initially, plaintiffs sought an immediate interim award before the Court determined the appropriate amount of a final award. In their reply brief, however, plaintiffs clarified that they sought an interim award only in the event that State Defendants chose to appeal the Court’s final award. State Defendants oppose any interim award.

Discussion

The Court will first address plaintiffs’ argument that they are entitled to an award of fees under the common fund/eom-mon benefit approach. Next the Court considers the lodestar analysis. The Court then considers an appropriate award of expenses. Finally, the Court addresses plaintiffs’ request for an interim award of fees and expenses.

I. The Common Fund/Common Benefit Approach

There are two principal exceptions to the general rule that each party to litigation must bear its own legal costs. First, there are fee-shifting statutes. Congress has enacted a number of statutes providing for the shifting of fees from one party to the other in certain circumstances. For example, 42 U.S.C. § 1988 is a fee-shifting statute which provides that a plaintiff who prevails in an action brought pursuant to certain civil rights laws, including 42 U.S.C. § 1983, is entitled to recover his or her reasonable attorneys’ fees from the defendant. 42 U.S.C. § 1988(b). The parties in this case agree that plaintiffs are entitled to an award of attorneys’ fees under this statute.

Second, there are the closely related common fund and common benefit doctrines. Under the common fund doctrine, attorneys in a class action in which a common fund is created are entitled to receive a reasonable percentage of the common fund as compensation for their services. Camden I Condo. Ass’n, Inc. v. *1271 Dunkle, 946 F.2d 768, 771 (11th Cir.1991). The common benefit doctrine extends the common fund doctrine to lawsuits that produce nonmonetary benefits. Id.

In this case, plaintiffs contend that under the common fund and common benefit doctrines they are entitled to a percentage of the value of the benefit conferred upon the plaintiff class by their efforts. By their calculation, the value of this benefit totals more than $168 million. (Bartosz Decl. ¶ 9.) This figure represents the sum of (1) enhancements to the budget of the Georgia Department of Family and Children Services occurring during the pendency of this action, and (2) fiscal obligations undertaken by the State Defendants to implement the Consent Decree. (Id. ¶¶ 6-8 & Ex. A.) For the following reasons, the Court concludes that neither the common fund doctrine nor the common benefit doctrine is applicable to this case.

First, the common fund doctrine is inapplicable because no fund was created by the parties’ settlement. Instead, the settlement is one in which State Defendants have agreed to undertake certain actions to benefit foster children. Although it may be possible to place a dollar value on the benefit these actions will confer on the plaintiff class, this does not result in the creation of a common fund. The Sixth Circuit’s analysis in a recent desegregation case is equally applicable to this case:

[T]he [common fund] doctrine is inappropriate here because there is simply no fund. The benefit provided to the plaintiff class—the desegregation of Tennessee’s system of higher education—is not pecuniary in any conventional way and did not result in the creation of a fund to be divided up among the plaintiffs, as is the case in common fund cases. Although ... the benefits attained could perhaps be measured as pecuniary—in the sense that a dollar value could be assigned to the cost of the remedial measures-transposing the action’s social value into monetary value is imprecise, and more importantly, still leaves us without a fund. The money designated by Tennessee for the remedial programs goes to fund the programs, not to pay plaintiffs.

Geier v. Sundquist, 372 F.3d 784, 790 (6th Cir.2004)(emphasis in original).

Second, an award of fees under the common fund doctrine would be contrary to the doctrine’s rationale. The common fund doctrine “rests on the perception that persons who obtain the benefit of a lawsuit without contributing to its cost are unjustly enriched at the successful litigant’s expense.” Boeing Co. v. Van Gemert, 444 U.S. 472, 478, 100 S.Ct. 745, 62 L.Ed.2d 676 (1980). Consistent with this perception, “a key element of the common fund case is that fees are not assessed against the unsuccessful litigant (fee shifting), but rather, are taken from the fund or damage recovery (fee spreading).” Camden I, 946 F.2d at 774. Here, however, plaintiffs acknowledge that “the fees requested must be paid by the state without cost or compromise to the benefit achieved for the Plaintiff Class.” (Pls.’ Br. at 28.) Thus, counsel do not seek to spread their fees among the members of the plaintiff class by obtaining a percentage of a common fund generated for their benefit. Instead, they seek to shift their fees to State Defendants by way of a calculation based on a purely hypothetical common fund.

Third, this case does not fall within the special subset of cases to which the common benefit doctrine applies. Common benefit recovery is appropriate only where the defendant and the beneficiaries share an identity of interests. See generally Alan Hirsch & Diane Sheehey, Awarding Attorneys’ Fees and Managing *1272 Fee Litigation 88-91 (Fed. Judicial Ctr.2d ed.2005). Such a recovery has generally been permitted in only two types of cases: suits by shareholders against their corporations and suits by union members against their union. See Hall v. Cole, 412 U.S. 1, 93 S.Ct. 1943, 36 L.Ed.2d 702 (1973); Mills v. Elec. Auto-Lite Co., 396 U.S. 375, 90 S.Ct. 616, 24 L.Ed.2d 593 (1970). In such cases, “[f]ees are paid by the defendant, because it is the alter ego of the beneficiaries who would otherwise be unjustly enriched by the suit.” Hirsch & Sheehey, supra, at 88. However, “[i]f the defendant and the beneficiaries have no such identity of interests, an award against the defendant is improper because it would shift the costs unfairly.” Id. at 88-89. Here, there is no identity of interests between State Defendants and members of the plaintiff class; therefore, a common benefit recovery would not serve to spread the costs among all the beneficiaries but would merely shift the costs to State Defendants, contrary to the purpose of the common benefit doctrine.

The fact that plaintiffs have asserted claims under Georgia law as well as 42 U.S.C. § 1983 does not change the foregoing analysis. As applied by the Georgia courts in the cases cited by plaintiffs, the common fund/common benefit doctrine is the same as that followed by the federal courts in the cases discussed above and is thus subject to the same restrictions. See State of Georgia v. Private Truck Council of Am., 258 Ga. 531, 534-35, 371 S.E.2d 378 (1988); Friedrich v. Fidelity Nat’l Bank, 247 Ga.App. 704, 705-07, 545 S.E.2d 107 (2001).

Likewise, the Court’s conclusion is not altered by the parties’ acknowledgment that plaintiffs are entitled to recover their fees and expenses pursuant to Fed. R.Civ.P. 23(h), as well as 42 U.S.C. § 1988. Consent Decree § 22.A. Rule 23(h) provides in pertinent part that “[i]n an action certified as a class action, the court may award reasonable attorney fees and nontaxable costs authorized by law or by agreement of the parties.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 23(h). “This subdivision,” however, “does not undertake to create new grounds for an award of attorney fees or nontaxable costs,” but “applies only when such awards are authorized by law or by agreement of the parties.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 23(h), Advisory Committee Notes to 2003 Amendments. For the reasons discussed above, a recovery under the common fund/common benefit doctrine is not authorized by law in this case. Nor did the parties agree to such a recovery. Therefore, Rule 23(h) does not provide a basis for the Court to apply the common fund/common benefit approach.

II. The Lodestar Analysis

Since the common fund/common benefit approach is not applicable to this case, the determination of an appropriate award of attorneys’ fees is governed by 42 U.S.C. § 1988. The starting point for calculating reasonable attorneys’ fees under 42 U.S.C. § 1988 is “the number of hours reasonably expended on the litigation multiplied by a reasonable hourly rate” for the attorneys’ services. Hensley v. Eckerhart, 461 U.S. 424, 433, 103 S.Ct. 1933, 76 L.Ed.2d 40 (1983); Blum v. Stenson, 465 U.S. 886, 888, 104 S.Ct. 1541, 79 L.Ed.2d 891 (1984). The product of these two numbers is commonly referred to as the “lodestar.” Pennsylvania v. Delaware Valley Citizens’ Council, 478 U.S. 546, 563, 106 S.Ct. 3088, 92 L.Ed.2d 439 (1986). After calculating the lodestar, the court may adjust the amount upwards or downwards based on a number of factors, such as the quality of the results obtained and the legal representation provided. Blum, 465 U.S. at 897, 104 S.Ct. 1541; Duckworth v. Whisen-ant, 97 F.3d 1393, 1396 (11th Cir.1996). In accordance with this methodology, the Court will calculate the lodestar by first determining the number of hours reason *1273 ably expended by plaintiffs’ counsel on this litigation and then the hourly rates at which such work should reasonably be compensated. The Court will then consider whether any adjustment to the lodestar is appropriate in this case.

A. Reasonable Hours

The Eleventh Circuit’s decisions regarding attorneys’ fees generally “contemplate a task-by-task examination of the hours billed.” ACLU of Georgia v. Barnes, 168 F.3d 423, 429 (11th Cir.1999). However, the Eleventh Circuit has also stated that “[wjhere fee documentation is voluminous, ... an hour-by-hour review is both impractical and a waste of judicial resources,” and therefore is not required. Loranger v. Stierheim, 10 F.3d 776, 783 (11th Cir.1994). In such cases, it is sufficient for the court to make “across-the-board percentage cuts either in the number of hours claimed or in the final lodestar figure,” so long as it provides “a concise but clear explanation of its reasons for the reduction.” Id.

This case clearly meets the requirements for a voluminous fee request. In Loranger itself, the motion, time sheets, and time summaries exceeded some 400 pages and sought recovery for approximately 3,000 hours billed by a single attorney. Id. at 779. In this case, the time records alone exceed two thousand pages and represent nearly 30,000 hours billed by 38 timekeepers. Clearly, the Court cannot “feasibly and expeditiously” engage in an hour-by-hour review of such a fee application. Id. at 783. Therefore, in accordance with Loranger, the Court will determine the total number of hours devoted to the litigation and then reduce that figure in gross with an across-the-board percentage reduction if such a reduction is warranted.

In determining a reasonable number of hours, the Court must exclude hours that were not “reasonably expended” due to, for example, overstaffing. Hensley, 461 U.S. at 434, 103 S.Ct. 1933. “Work performed by multiple attorneys, however, is not subject to reduction where the attorneys were not unreasonably doing the same work.” Webster Greenthumb Co. v. Fulton County, 112 F.Supp.2d 1339, 1350 (N.D.Ga.2000) (citations omitted). “Counsel for the prevailing party should make a good-faith effort to exclude from a fee request hours that are excessive, redundant, or otherwise unnecessary.” Hensley, 461 U.S. at 434, 103 S.Ct. 1933. If counsel fails to do so, the Court must do it for them. Barnes, 168 F.3d at 428.

The Court also must give due weight to the sworn declarations of co-lead counsel for plaintiffs, Marcia Robinson Lowry and Jeffrey O. Bramlett, who state that they have reviewed the entries in each compilation of time records submitted and have written off charges which, in the exercise of their billing judgment, they deemed excessive; and that the compilations and the summaries attached to their declarations are an accurate and reliable account of the work performed in this case. (Lowry Decl. ¶ 8; Bramlett Deck ¶ 6.) Ms. Lowry and Mr. Bramlett each attest that all of the hours submitted were reasonable and necessary in order to furnish adequate representation to the plaintiff class. (Low-ry Deck ¶ 9; Bramlett Deck ¶ 9.) Plaintiffs have also submitted the declarations of five experienced Atlanta attorneys, each of whom attests that, in light of the nature and complexity of this case, the amount of time devoted to the case by class counsel was fair and reasonable and deserving of full compensation. (Knowles Deck ¶ 7; Goldberg Deck ¶ 8; Chandler Deck ¶ 6; Fellows Deck ¶ 6; Rawls Deck ¶ 6.) 4

*1274 Tasks for which fees are recoverable “include pre-litigation services in preparation of filing the lawsuit, background research and reading in complex cases, productive attorney discussions and strategy sessions, negotiations, routine activities such as making telephone calls and reading mail related to the case, monitoring and enforcing the favorable judgment, and even preparing and litigating the request for attorneys’ fees.” Webster Green-thumb, 112 F.Supp.2d at 1350 (citations omitted). “Reasonable travel time of the prevailing party’s attorneys ordinarily is compensated on an hourly basis, although the rate may be reduced if no legal work was performed during travel. As with attorneys’ work, the hours expended by paralegals, law clerks, and other paraprofessionals are also compensable to the extent these individuals are engaged in work traditionally performed by an attorney.” Id. (citations omitted).

The time records submitted in support of plaintiffs’ fee application show that plaintiffs’ attorneys, paralegals, and legal interns devoted a total of 29,908.73 hours to this litigation. (Lowry Decl. Ex. 2; Bramlett Decl. Ex. 1.) State Defendants have presented a number of specific objections to the hours billed. They contend, first of all, that the billing records reflect a lack of billing judgment generally insofar as the time entries are “riddled with many vague and noncompensable narratives.” (State Defs.’ Br. at 27.) State Defendants also contend that the number of hours spent by plaintiffs’ counsel on certain tasks was excessive. Specifically, State Defendants object to the number of hours spent on the following tasks: complaint and mandatory disclosures (1,648.41 hours), motion for preliminary injunction (1,770.33 hours), document production and analysis (7,195.86 hours), depositions and witness preparation (3,800.37 hours), discovery motions (777.13 hours), other investigation and background research (18.5 hours), in-tra- and inter-office conferences and correspondence^,428 hours), expert witnesses and reports (1,819.76 hours), motion for summary judgment (1,720.99 hours), mediation and settlement (2,155.70 hours), pretrial motions (1,151.06), trial preparation (2,124.55 hours), attorneys’ fees application (86.70 hours), and miscellaneous matters (1.050.08). 5

After carefully considering each of State Defendants’ objections and conducting its own review of plaintiffs’ counsel’s time records, the Court agrees that some reduction in hours is appropriate because of vague and noncompensable time entries and because an excessive number of hours was spent on certain tasks. The Court will address each of State Defendants’ objections in turn below and then determine what overall percentage reduction in hours is appropriate.

1. Billing Judgment

State Defendants seek at least a 5% reduction in the total lodestar to account for vague and noncompensable time entries in plaintiffs’ counsel’s billing records. Plaintiffs have not responded to this objection. The Court has reviewed the entries cited by State Defendants and agrees that many of the entries are too vague to permit the Court to determine whether the time was reasonably expended. Many of the entries also reflect purely administrative tasks that are noncompensable. *1275 Therefore, the Court will take these matters into account in determining an appropriate reduction in hours.

2. Complaint and, Mandatory Disclosures

State Defendants contend that the 1,648.41 hours billed for pre-suit investigation and researching and drafting the complaint and mandatory disclosures is excessive. Relying on a decision in an earlier case brought by CRI in Washington, D.C., State Defendants contend that no more than 450 hours is reasonable for this work. See LaShawn A. v. Barry, No. 89-1754, 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2137 at *18 (D.D.C. Feb. 17, 1998). State Defendants also argue that time spent researching a nuisance claim that was ultimately dismissed should not be allowed.

Plaintiffs respond that the hours spent were reasonable given the broad scope of the tasks included in this category, including factual investigation and legal research, evaluation of proper defendants, evaluation of the optimum scope for the case, evaluation of alternatives for achieving relief in state as well as federal courts, efforts to resolve the case prior to filing suit, as well as preparation of the initial complaint and mandatory disclosures. Plaintiffs point out that the pre-suit investigation in this case was an immense undertaking involving four state governmental hierarchies (DHR, State DFCS, Fulton DFCS, and DeKalb DFCS) and requiring extensive on-site witness interviews and follow-up factual investigations with foster children, foster parents, child advocates, members of the care provider community, adoption agency personnel, caseworkers, emergency shelter workers, law enforcement personnel, and various other stakeholders in Georgia’s child welfare system, in addition to researching the parameters of plaintiffs’ legal claims under seventeen causes of action covering state and federal law.

The Court recognizes that the preparation of this case for filing required a substantial amount of work, much more than even the average class action. The Court rejects State Defendants suggestion that the Court should apply an arbitrary 450-hour cap based on another case from another jurisdiction which State Defendants have not shown is comparable to this case. The Court also rejects State Defendants’ claim that work on the dismissed nuisance claim should not be compensated. The nuisance claim was dismissed as moot following the closure of Fulton and DeKalb Counties’ emergency shelters. See Kenny A v. Perdue, 218 F.R.D. 277, 297 (N.D.Ga.2003). As discussed below in connection with plaintiffs’ motion for preliminary injunction, such closure came in part due to plaintiffs’ efforts to close the shelters, which included the assertion of the nuisance claim. Therefore, time spent researching this claim is compensable.

Nevertheless, while the Court cannot say precisely how much time this work should have taken, based on its experience in other complex class actions, 1,648.41 hours is excessive for pre-suit investigation and drafting the complaint and mandatory disclosures. The Court will take this into account in determining an appropriate percentage reduction in hours.

3. Motion for Preliminary Injunction

State Defendants contend that 1,770 hours to file pleadings,, prepare for, and attend the preliminary injunction hearing is excessive. They note substantial billing entries by numerous timekeepers in the two months prior to the hearing and object to the fact that seven attorneys and two paralegals billed for their attendance at the hearing. State Defendants also contend that all time in this category should be excluded because the Court denied the motion for preliminary injunction.

*1276 In response, plaintiffs point out that at the time this work was performed, the Fulton and DeKalb shelters were operating and overpopulated with children, and there was no. reliable assurance that these dangerous conditions would abate without injunctive relief. Plaintiffs note that the work included numerous depositions, document productions, expert site inspections, and child interviews. They argue that even though the Court ultimately denied the injunction, State Defendants’ commitment to