Leopold v. DOJ (D.D.C.) -- granting in part and denying in part plaintiffs’ motion for attorney’s fees and costs in case concerning post–2020 election records requests; ruling that although plaintiffs “substantially prevailed” and were entitled to fees, their fee request was excessive and required substantial reduction; concluding that DOJ’s early cooperation and production of records without significant court intervention warranted a reduction in pre-summary judgment fees by 50%; further holding that plaintiffs’ limited success on the merits justified reducing summary judgment fees to approximately 20% of the requested amount, particularly where billing entries did not consistently tie work to successful claims; finding additional reductions appropriate where entries were vague, block-billed, or failed to segregate time spent on successful versus unsuccessful issues; further holding that plaintiffs’ request for fees-on-fees was itself excessive and capping recovery at roughly 30% of the merits-stage award to avoid a “windfall”; awarding costs in full where adequately documented and reasonably incurred; emphasizing that FOIA fee awards are governed by “rough justice, not auditing perfection,” and must reflect degree of success rather than total hours expended.
Summaries of published opinions issued in 2026 are available here. Earlier opinions are available for 2025, 2024, and from 2015 to 2023.