NEW YORK, April 5 (Reuters) - New York City is fighting a bill submitted by the lawyer overseeing the implementation of a court-ordered plan to end discriminatory hiring practices at the New York City Fire Department.

In a motion filed this week with U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis, the city called Mark Cohen's $310,758 fee request "astounding" and "excessive."

Cohen of Cohen & Gresser was appointed as court monitor by Garaufis in November to keep tabs on the city as it overhauls hiring and recruitment procedures at the FDNY.

The appointment followed prior court rulings that found the existing procedures d isadvantaged black and Hispanic applicants.

Garaufis approved Cohen's request for $310,758 in fees on March 23.

But on Tuesday, the city said the court should make Cohen post a bond in case it succeeds in clawing back part of the award on appeal. In the alternative, the city asked Garaufis to issue an order staying the award while it pursues an appeal.

The city also is seeking to review the hourly billing statements submitted by Cohen and his team, which had been reviewed in camera by the court and sealed.

In its filing, the city noted that the fees requested for 52 days by Cohen and his four-attorney team amounted to $5,863 per day. Even though Cohen was appointed by the court, the city will ultimately foot his bill, according to the filing.

"Early on, defendants voiced concerns that the monitor's proposed team was staffed in a manner that would generate excessive costs through, among other things, inefficiencies and duplication of effort," the city wrote. "These concerns seem to have been prescient."

'REASONABLE' FEES

In his March 23 order, Garaufis defended his decision to seal Cohen's billing statements. Cohen is the court's employee, not the city's, and his work may entail confidential matters, Garaufis said

"(T)he court has reviewed the hourly billing record that supports the statement and finds that the fees and expenses are reasonable and regular," Garaufis wrote. He praised Cohen for his "extraordinary work" in the four-year old case, which has produced a voluminous record of rulings and other documents.

The city has not yet appealed Cohen's fees, but indicated in its m otion t hat it intends to challenge the reasonableness of the award.

An appeal of Garaufis' October order mandating the FDNY overhaul and creating the position of court-appointed monitor is pending before the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Cohen did not immediately return a request for comment Thursday.

"Without seeing an itemized statement from the Monitor, we cannot conclusively say whether a bill of over $310,000 for 52 days of work is appropriate," Corporation Counsel Michael Cardozo said in a statement. "However, the amount of time claimed, as well as the overall cost, appear excessive from a common-sense perspective."

The case is U.S. v. City of New York, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, No. 07-2067.

For the United States: Assistant U.S. Attorneys Elliot Schachner, Michael Goldberger and David Eskew for the U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of New York; and Eric Bachman, Sharon Seeley, Allan Townsend, Barbara Schwabauer, Jennifer Swedish, Meredith Burrell and Varda Hussain of the U.S. Department of Justice.

For the Vulcan Society: Richard Levy, Dana Lossia and Robert Stroup of Levy Ratner; Anjana Samant and Darius Charney for the Center for Constitutional Rights; and Judith Scolnick of Scott and Scott.

For New York City: Assistant Corporation Counsel Georgia Pestana, William Fraenkel, Edward Sample, James Lemonedes, Kami Barker, Kathleen Comfrey, Patricia Miller and Vivien Ranada.

(Reporting by Jessica Dye)

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