Farley v. Commissioner of Social Security

Filing 26

ORDER granting 24 Plaintiff's counsel's motion for authorization to charge a reasonable fee pursuant to 42 U.S.C. 406(b). Signed by Magistrate Judge Philip R. Lammens on 3/7/2025. (AR)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
MIDDLE DISTRICT OF FLORIDA
OCALA DIVISION
LOPAKA KEKOA FARLEY,
Plaintiff,
v.

Case No: 5:22-cv-451-PRL

COMMISSIONER OF SOCIAL
SECURITY,
Defendant.
ORDER
This matter is before the Court on the unopposed motion of Plaintiff’s counsel,
Richard A. Culbertson, for authorization to charge a reasonable fee pursuant to 42 U.S.C.
§406(b) in the amount of $4,000.00. (Doc. 24). In support of the motion, Mr. Culbertson has
filed a signed fee agreement in which Plaintiff acknowledges a 25% fee award of past due
benefits. (Doc. 24-1). Mr. Culbertson represents that the Commissioner has no objection to
the requested fees.
I.

Background

On March 7, 2023, this Court reversed and remanded the case to the Social Security
Administration for further proceedings. (Doc. 20). On June 2, 2023, the Court awarded
attorney’s fees to Mr. Culbertson under the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA) in the sum
of $691.08. (Doc. 23). The EAJA fee, however, was not paid to Mr. Culbertson because it
was taken by the United States Department of the Treasury to pay Plaintiff’s child support
obligation. (Docs. 24-3). Subsequently, on remand, Plaintiff was awarded past due benefits in
the amount of $54,921.00. (Doc. 24-2). Pursuant to the fee agreement, the attorney fee payable

from Plaintiff’s past-due benefits is $13,730.25, which is twenty five percent of the past due
benefits. However, according to Mr. Culbertson, he and Plaintiff have mutually agreed that a
reduction of the fee requested to $4,000.00 would be reasonable under all the circumstances.
II.

Discussion

An attorney, as here, who successfully represents a Social Security claimant in court
may be awarded as part of the judgment Aa reasonable fee ... not in excess of 25 percent of
the ... past-due benefits awarded to the claimant. 42 U.S.C. §406(b)(1)(A). The fee is payable
out of, and not in addition to, the amount of [the] past-due benefits. Id. As required by
Gisbrecht v. Barnhardt, 535 U.S. 789, 808 (2002), courts should approach contingent-fee
determinations by first looking to the agreement between the attorney and the client, and then
testing that agreement for reasonableness. When called upon to assess the reasonableness of
the award, a court should balance the interest in protecting claimants from inordinately large
fees against the interest in ensuring that attorneys are adequately compensate so that they
continue to represent clients in disability benefits cases. Gisbrecht, 535 U.S. at 805. In making
this reasonableness determination, the Gisbrecht court highlighted several important factors
including: (1) whether the requested fee is out of line with the character of the representation
and the results the representation achieved; (2) whether the attorney unreasonably delayed
the proceedings in an attempt to increase the accumulation of benefits and thereby increase
his own fee; and (3) whether the benefits awarded are large in comparison to the amount of
time counsel spent on the case, the so-called windfall factor. Id. at 808. In these instances, a
downward reduction may be in order.
Here, the Court finds that the requested attorney’s fee in the amount of $4,000.00 is
reasonable. The requested fee will not result in a windfall for counsel –i.e., that counsel is

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receiving compensation he is not entitled to and that payment of the compensation would be
unfair or detrimental to Plaintiff. In this regard, Mr. Culbertson has submitted a signed fee
agreement in which Plaintiff acknowledged that counsel would receive 25% of all past due
benefits awarded on appeal. (Doc. 24-1). Despite the fee agreement, Mr. Culbertson and
Plaintiff have agreed to a greatly reduced fee (from $13,730.25 to $4,000.00), because the case
took less time than anticipated.
Accordingly, for these reasons, and in the absence of any objection by the
Commissioner, Mr. Culbertson’s motion for authorization to charge a reasonable fee
pursuant to 42 U.S.C. 406(b) (Doc. 24) is due to be GRANTED. Section 406(b) fees are
approved for Mr. Culbertson in the sum of $4,000.00.
DONE and ORDERED in Ocala, Florida on March 7, 2025.

Copies furnished to:
Counsel of Record
Unrepresented Parties

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