Finley v. Commissioner of Social Security

Filing 25

ORDER GRANTING 22 Motion for Attorney Fees Pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 406(b), signed by Magistrate Judge Jennifer L. Thurston on 4/17/2018. (Hall, S)

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 WILLIAM JOSEPH FINLEY, Plaintiff, 12 v. 13 14 COMISSIONER OF SOCIAL SECURITY, Defendant. 15 ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) Case No.: 1:16-cv-0272- JLT ORDER GRANTING COUNSEL’S MOTION FOR ATTORNEY FEES PURSUANT TO 42 U.S.C. § 406(b) (Doc. 22) 16 Josephine Gerrard, counsel for Plaintiff William Joseph Finley, seeks an award of attorney fees 17 18 pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 406(b). (Doc. 22) Neither Plaintiff nor Defendant filed a response to the 19 motion. For the following reasons, the motion for attorney fees is GRANTED. 20 I. 21 Relevant Background Plaintiff entered into a contingent fee agreement with Ms. Gerrard on February 22, 2016, which 22 provided that if the federal court litigation resulted in past-due benefits paid to Plaintiff, his “attorney 23 has the right under [the] contract to ask the court to award as much as 25% of [the] past-due benefits.” 24 (Doc. 22-2 at 1) 25 On February 26, 2016, Plaintiff filed a complaint for review of the administrative decision 26 denying his Social Security benefits. (Doc. 17) On December 2, 2016, the parties filed a stipulation 27 for the matter to be remanded for further proceedings. (Doc. 18) Pursuant to the terms of the 28 stipulation, the Court remanded the action under sentence four of 42 U.S.C. § 405(g) and entered 1 1 judgment in favor of Plaintiff. (Docs. 18, 19) Following the entry of judgment, the Court awarded 2 $6,000.00 in attorney fees pursuant to the Equal Access to Justice Act. (Doc. 21) On December 20, 2017 an administrative law judge “issued a favorable decision…, finding the 3 4 plaintiff disabled as of April 28, 2009.” (Doc. 22 at 2) The Commissioner concluded Plaintiff was 5 entitled to past due benefits totaling $107,403.00, out of which the Commissioner withheld 25% — in 6 the amount of $26,870.75 — for payment of attorney’s fees. (Doc. 22 at 2; Doc. 22-1 at 1) 7 II. An attorney may seek an award of fees for representation of a Social Security claimant who is 8 9 Attorney Fees under § 406(b) awarded benefits: Whenever a court renders a judgment favorable to a claimant under [42 USC § 401, et seq] who was represented before the court by an attorney, the court may determine and allow as part of its judgment a reasonable fee for such representation, not in excess of 25 percent of the total of the past-due benefits to which the claimant is entitled by reason of such judgment. . . . 10 11 12 13 14 42 U.S.C. § 406(b)(1)(A); see also Gisbrecht v. Barnhart, 535 U.S. 789, 794 (2002) (Section 406(b) 15 controls fees awarded for representation of Social Security claimants). A contingency fee agreement 16 is unenforceable if it provides for fees exceeding twenty-five percent of past-due benefits. Id. at 807. 17 III. 18 Discussion and Analysis District courts “have been deferential to the terms of contingency fee contracts § 406(b) cases.” 19 Hern v. Barnhart, 262 F.Supp.2d 1033, 1037 (N.D. Cal. 2003). However, the Court must review 20 contingent-fee arrangements “as an independent check, to assure that they yield reasonable results in 21 particular cases.” Gisbrecht, 535 U.S. at 807. In doing so, the Court should consider “the character of 22 the representation and the results the representative achieved.” Id. at 808. In addition, the Court 23 should consider whether the attorney performed in a substandard manner or engaged in dilatory 24 conduct or excessive delays, and whether the fees are “excessively large in relation to the benefits 25 received.” Crawford v. Astrue, 586 F.3d 1142, 1149 (9th Cir. 2009) (en banc). 26 In this case, Plaintiff entered into the contingent fee agreement in which he agreed to pay 27 twenty-five percent of any awarded retroactive benefits. Ms. Gerrard accepted the risk of loss in the 28 representation when representing Plaintiff before the District Court. As a result of counsel’s work 2 1 before the court and the agency, the matter was remanded for further proceedings before an 2 administrative law judge, who issued a fully favorable decision and awarded Plaintiff benefits. For 3 this, Ms. Gerrard requested a fee of $20,000.00 “as her fee for work before the agency.” (Doc. 22 at 2- 4 3; Doc. 22-5 at 1) She now “seeks a fee authorization in the amount of $4,875.50” pursuant to the 5 Social Security Act. (Doc. 22 at 6, ¶11) 6 Significantly, there is no indication Ms. Gerrard performed in a substandard manner or 7 engaged in severe dilatory conduct to the extent that a reduction in fees is warranted. To the contrary, 8 Plaintiff was able to secure a fully favorable decision following the remand for further proceedings, 9 including an award of past-due benefits. Accordingly, the Court finds the fees sought by Ms. Gerrard 10 are reasonable in light the results achieved in this action, and the amount does not exceed twenty-five 11 percent maximum permitted under 42 U.S.C. §406(b). 12 IV. Conclusion and Order 13 Based upon the foregoing, the Court ORDERS: 14 1. is GRANTED; and 15 16 The motion for attorney fees pursuant to 24 U.S.C. §406(b) in the amount of $4,875.50 2. The Commissioner shall pay the amount directly to Counsel, Josephine Gerrard. 17 18 19 20 IT IS SO ORDERED. Dated: April 17, 2018 /s/ Jennifer L. Thurston UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 3

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