Hawaii: Board Must Provide Rational Basis for Reduction in Requested Hourly Rate For Employee’s Attorney

An appellate court in Hawaii reversed a decision by the state’s Labor and Industrial Relations Appeals Board (LIRAB) that allowed the employee’s attorney a fee computed at an hourly rate of $165 per hour, instead of the requested $210 per hour. The attorney for the employee contended that the $210 rate was reasonable, given the fact that he had 30 years of experience in workers’ compensation cases and had participated in many cases during the past three years. The appellate court did not rule on what a reasonable rate should be, but said that the LIRAB erred since it found $210 per hour to be unreasonable, but gave no reasons to support the finding. Similarly, it found $165 per hour was reasonable, but provided no basis for its decision. The matter was remanded for appropriate determinations.

Thomas A. Robinson, J.D., the Feature National Columnist for the LexisNexis Workers’ Compensation eNewsletter, is the co-author of Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law (LexisNexis).

LexisNexis Online Subscribers: Citations below link to Lexis Advance.

See Pickett v. Cheesecake Factory Restaurants, Inc., 2016 Haw. App. LEXIS 387 (Aug. 31, 2016)

See generally Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, § 133.03.

Source: Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, the nation’s leading authority on workers’ compensation law