Kee v. Colvin
Filing
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ORDER GRANTING PLAINTIFF'S MOTION FOR ATTORNEY'S FEES. Plaintiff, as the prevailing party, is awarded her attorney's fees in the amount of $16,237.53, together with expenses in the amount of $25.83, for a total of $16,263.36. Signed by Judge Maxine M. Chesney on (mmclc1, COURT STAFF) (Filed on 9/21/2018)
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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
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FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
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TINA MARIE KEE,
Plaintiff,
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NANCY A. BERRYHILL,
Re: Dkt. No. 32
Defendant.
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United States District Court
Northern District of California
ORDER GRANTING PLAINTIFF’S
MOTION FOR ATTORNEY'S FEES
v.
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Case No. 16-cv-05170-MMC
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Before the Court is plaintiff’s Motion for Attorney’s Fees, filed July 3, 2018.
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Defendant Nancy A. Berryhill has filed a Response in Opposition. Plaintiff has not filed a
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reply. Having read and considered the papers filed in support of and in opposition to the
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motion, the Court rules as follows.1
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In the above-titled action, plaintiff alleges that an administrative law judge (“ALJ”)
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improperly denied plaintiff’s application for social security benefits. By order filed April 5,
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2018, the Court granted plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment, finding the ALJ erred in
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the “step three assessment of Listing 12.05C” (see Order, filed April 5, 2018, at 8:17-18),
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and remanded the matter for further proceedings (see id. at 9:18-22). On April 6, 2018,
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the Clerk of Court entered judgment in favor of plaintiff.
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By the instant motion, plaintiff seeks an award of attorney’s fees and expenses,
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pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2412(a) and (d). There is no dispute that plaintiff qualifies as a
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prevailing party entitled to a reasonable award of fees and expenses under § 2412. The
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Court next considers the amount of the award.
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By order filed September 17, 2018, the Court took the matter under submission.
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In determining a reasonable attorney’s fee, a court begins by “multipl[ying] the
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number of hours reasonably expended on the litigation by a reasonable hourly rate.” See
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Costa v. Comm’r of the Soc. Sec. Admin., 690 F.3d 1132, 1135 (9th Cir. 2012) (internal
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quotation, alteration and citation omitted). Here, plaintiff seeks an award of attorney’s
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fees in the amount of $16,237.53, which sum is based on the following: (1) $14,405.03
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for 73.2 hours of work performed by plaintiff’s counsel of record at an hourly rate of
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$196.79; and (2) $1832.50 for 14.2 hours of work performed by a paralegal at hourly
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rates of $125 and $130 for, respectively, 2.7 hours performed in 2016 and 11.5 hours
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performed in 2017 and 2018. (See Weems Decl. Ex. 1.)2
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Defendant does not dispute the reasonableness of the hourly rates sought, and
United States District Court
Northern District of California
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the Court finds, for the reasons stated by plaintiff, that the hourly rates sought are
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reasonable.
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Defendant does, however, dispute the reasonableness of the number of hours
claimed, which, defendant argues, should be reduced by 50%.
In that regard, defendant first contends the hours should be reduced “because the
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majority of [plaintiff’s] arguments were not addressed by the Court.” (See Def.’s
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Response at 3:25-25.) Such contention is not persuasive. In particular, plaintiff’s motion
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for summary judgment raised three arguments in support of her claim that her application
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for benefits should not have been denied, and the Court, after concluding the first of
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those three arguments had merit, did not find it necessary to consider the additional two
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arguments. Under such circumstances, a reduction is not warranted. See Hensley v.
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Eckerhart, 461 U.S. 424, 435 (1983) (holding “[l]itigants in good faith may raise
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alternative grounds for a desired outcome, and the court’s . . . failure to reach certain
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grounds is not a sufficient reason for reducing a fee”).
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Defendant next argues a reduction is warranted because the Court remanded the
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The total number of attorney and paralegal hours is thus 87.4, not 96.10, a
miscalculation that appears in the above exhibit.
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case for further proceedings rather than issue an award of benefits. Again, the Court is
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not persuaded. Although an award of fees may be “reduce[d] to account for the limited
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success” of the prevailing party, see id. at 436-37, district courts, when applying such
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principle in social security cases, have found, and this Court agrees, that a remedy in the
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form of further proceedings as opposed to benefits is not the type of limited success that
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warrants a reduction. See, e.g., Jones v. Colvin, 2013 WL 3490630, at *9 (W.D. Wash.
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June 28, 2013) (holding “the relief plaintiff received from the [court] – reversal and
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remand for further administrative proceedings – does constitute substantial relief that is
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not so limited as to warrant a reduction in attorney’s fees merely because she did not
obtain her primary form of requested relief”); Denton v Astrue, 2013 WL 673860, at *3 (D.
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United States District Court
Northern District of California
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Ore. February 25, 2013) (finding order remanding for further proceedings constituted
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“substantial” relief, as “remand enables [p]laintiff to move forward with his claim”;
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declining to reduce fees requested); Penrod v. Apfel, 54 F. Supp. 2d 961, 963 (D. Az.
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1999) (holding, where plaintiff prevailed on “significant” issue by demonstrating “[m]aterial
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errors were made during administrative proceedings,” plaintiff entitled to award based on
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all reasonable work expended; noting “[i]t is of little, if any, consequence that [p]laintiff
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preferred [an award of benefits] over remand”).
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Lastly, defendant argues the number of hours claimed should be reduced because
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the 87.4 hours claimed are “beyond [the] hours normally expended by attorneys in similar
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disability cases.” (See Def.’s Response at 4:12-13.) In support of such argument,
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defendant cites several cases in which district courts have based fee awards on a lower
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number of hours. (See id. at 4:13-5:12.) As the Ninth Circuit has explained, however,
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although “[s]urveying the hourly rates awarded to attorneys of comparable experience
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and skill is a useful tool for assessing the reasonableness of a requested hourly rate,”
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reviewing “the amount of time spent on other cases” is “far less useful for assessing how
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much time an attorney can reasonably spend on a specific case because that
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determination will always depend on case-specific factors.” See Costa, 690 F.3d at 1136
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(reversing reduction of number of hours claimed, where based on attempt to “get[ ] the
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number of hours down” to what district judge believed should be “upper limit” in social
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security cases). Here, the Court finds the amount of time expended on the tasks
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identified by plaintiff’s counsel was reasonable in light of the size of the record and the
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issues presented therein.
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Accordingly, the Court will award plaintiff the amount of attorney’s fees sought,
specifically, $16,237.53.
With respect to expenses, plaintiff seeks $25.83, corresponding to $1.88 for
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postage and $23.95 for Westlaw charges. Defendant does not dispute the
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reasonableness of the claimed expenses, and the Court finds the sums reasonable.
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United States District Court
Northern District of California
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Accordingly, the Court will award plaintiff the amount of expenses sought,
specifically, $25.83.
CONCLUSION
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For the reasons stated above, plaintiff's motion is hereby GRANTED. Specifically,
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plaintiff, as the prevailing party, is hereby AWARDED her attorney's fees in the amount of
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$16,237.53, together with expenses in the amount of $25.83, for a total of $16,263.36.
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IT IS SO ORDERED.
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Dated: September 21, 2018
MAXINE M. CHESNEY
United States District Judge
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