Muldrow v. Social Security Administration Commissioner
Filing
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ORDER granting 19 Motion for Attorney Fees in the amount of $5,541.90 pursuant to the EAJA, 28 U.S.C. §2412. Signed by Honorable Barry A. Bryant on June 7, 2021. (mll)
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
WESTERN DISTRICT OF ARKANSAS
TEXARKANA DIVISION
RUBY MULDROW
vs.
PLAINTIFF
Civil No. 4:20-cv-04001
COMMISIONER, SOCIAL
SECURITY ADMINISTRATION
DEFENDANT
ORDER
Pending now before the Court is Plaintiff’s Motion for Attorney’s Fees Pursuant to the Equal
Access to Justice Act (“EAJA”). ECF No. 19. Defendant has responded and objected to this Motion. ECF
No. 20.
The Parties have consented to the jurisdiction of a magistrate judge to conduct any and all
proceedings in this case, including conducting the trial, ordering the entry of a final judgment, and
conducting all post-judgment proceedings. ECF No. 6. Pursuant to this authority, the Court issues this
Order.
1.
Background:
On January 2, 2020, Ruby Muldrow (“Plaintiff”) appealed to the Court from the Secretary of Social
Security Administration’s (“SSA”) denial of her request for disability benefits. ECF No. 1. On March 12,
2021, Plaintiff’s case was reversed and remanded pursuant to sentence four of 42 U.S.C. § 405(g). ECF
Nos. 17-18.
On May 20, 2021, Plaintiff filed this Motion. ECF No. 19. With this Motion, Plaintiff requests an
award of $5,541.90 in attorney’s fees. Id. This amount represents 27.30 hours from 2020 and 2021 at an
hourly rate of $203.00. Id. Defendant objected to the Plaintiff’s request for 3.80 hours of attorney time in
2020 as clerical in nature and excessive. ECF No. 20.
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2.
Applicable Law:
Pursuant to the EAJA, 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d)(1)(A), a court must award attorney's fees to a prevailing
social security claimant unless the Secretary’s position in denying benefits was substantially justified. The
Secretary has the burden of proving that the denial of benefits was substantially justified. See Jackson v.
Bowen, 807 F.2d 127, 128 (8th Cir.1986) (“The Secretary bears the burden of proving that its position in
the administrative and judicial proceedings below was substantially justified”). An EAJA application also
must be made within thirty days of a final judgment in an action, See 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d)(1)(B), or within
thirty days after the sixty day time for appeal has expired. See Shalala v. Schaefer, 509 U.S. 292, 298
(1993).
An award of attorney’s fees under the EAJA is appropriate even though, at the conclusion of the
case, the plaintiff’s attorney may be authorized to charge and to collect a fee pursuant to 42 U.S.C. §
406(b)(1). Recovery of attorney’s fees under both the EAJA and 42 U.S.C. § 406(b)(1) was specifically
allowed when Congress amended the EAJA in 1985. See Gisbrecht v. Barnhart, 535 U.S. 789, 796 (2002)
(citing Pub. L. No. 99-80, 99 Stat. 186 (1985)). The United States Supreme Court stated that Congress
harmonized an award of attorney’s fees under the EAJA and under 42 U.S.C. § 406(b)(1) as follows:
Fee awards may be made under both prescriptions [EAJA and 42 U.S.C. § 406(b)(1)], but
the claimant’s attorney must “refun[d] to the claimant the amount of the smaller fee.”. .
.“Thus, an EAJA award offsets an award under Section 406(b), so that the [amount of total
past-due benefits the claimant actually receives] will be increased by the . . . EAJA award
up to the point the claimant receives 100 percent of the past-due benefits.”
Id. Furthermore, awarding fees under both acts facilitates the purposes of the EAJA, which is to shift to
the United States the prevailing party’s litigation expenses incurred while contesting unreasonable
government action. See id.; Cornella v. Schweiker, 728 F.2d 978, 986 (8th Cir. 1984).
The statutory ceiling for an EAJA fee award is $125.00 per hour. See 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d)(2)(A).
A court is only authorized to exceed this statutory rate if “the court determines that an increase in the cost
of living or a special factor, such as the limited availability of qualified attorneys for the proceedings
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involved, justifies a higher fee.” Id. A court may determine that there has been an increase in the cost of
living, and may thereby increase the attorney’s rate per hour, based upon the United States Department of
Labor’s Consumer Price Index (“CPI”). See Johnson v. Sullivan, 919 F.2d 503, 504 (8th Cir. 1990). See
also General Order 39 (“Attorney’s Fees Under the Equal Access to Justice Act”).
3.
Discussion:
In the present action, Plaintiff’s case was remanded to the SSA. ECF Nos. 17-18. Defendant does
not contest Plaintiff’s claim that she is the prevailing party and does not oppose her application for fees
under the EAJA. ECF No. 20. The Court construes the lack of opposition to this application as an
admission that the government’s decision to deny benefits was not “substantially justified” and that Plaintiff
is the prevailing party.
Plaintiff requests a total award of $5,541.90. ECF No. 29. This amount represents 27.30 hours
from 2020 and 2021 at an hourly rate of $203.00. Id. This attorney hourly rate is authorized by the EAJA
as long as the CPI-South Index justifies such this enhanced rate. See General Order 39. See also 28 U.S.C.
§ 2412(d)(2)(A); Johnson, 919 F.2d at 504. In the present action, the Court finds the CPI-South Index
authorizes $203.00 for 2020 and 2021. Thus, the Court awards that hourly rate.
As for Plaintiff’s requested hours, Plaintiff seeks 27.30 attorney hours for work performed in 2020
and 2021. ECF No. 19. Defendant objected to the Plaintiff’s request for 3.80 hours of attorney time in
2020 as clerical in nature and excessive. ECF No. 20. Plaintiff’s request includes time spent in preparation
of the Complaint, Motion to Proceed IFP, and review of Court Orders and other pleadings. The Court finds
this requested time involves attorney preparation and review of the documents in this case and does not
involve solely clerical work. 1 Further, the Court does not believe any of the requested hours are excessive.
Accordingly, the Court declines to grant Defendant's request and reduce Plaintiff's fees by 3.80 hour based
The Court disagrees with the finding relied on by Defendant in Pelts v. Colvin, 2017 WL 1230855,
(W.D. Ark. Apr. 3, 2017) which found such tasks as “purely clerical in nature.”
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upon Defendant's claim that this work was purely clerical in nature. Therefore, the Court awards Plaintiff
27.30 in attorney time for work performed.
As a final point, Ratliff requires that attorney’s fees be awarded to the “prevailing party” or the
litigant. See Astrue v. Ratliff, 560 U.S. 586 (2010). Thus, these fees must be awarded to Plaintiff, not to
Plaintiff’s attorney. However, if Plaintiff has executed a valid assignment to Plaintiff’s attorney of all rights
in an attorney’s fee award and Plaintiff owes no outstanding debt to the federal government, the attorney’s
fee may be awarded directly to Plaintiff’s attorney.
4.
Conclusion:
Based upon the foregoing, the Court awards Plaintiff $5,541.90 pursuant to the EAJA, 28 U.S.C. §
2412. This includes 27.30 hours at an attorney hourly rate of $203.00 for work performed in 2020 and
2021.
ENTERED this 7th day of June 2021.
Barry A. Bryant
/s/
HON. BARRY A. BRYANT
U. S. MAGISTRATE JUDGE
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