Mack v. Colvin

Filing 20

ORDER granting in part and denying in part Pltf's 14 Motion for Attorney Fees under EAJA; granting Pltf's 16 Motion for Reimbursement of Filing Fee. Signed by Senior Judge Graham Mullen on 12/11/2017. (ejb)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
WESTERN DISTRICT OF NORTH CAROLINA
ASHEVILLE DIVISION
DOCKET NO. 1:16-cv-290
ELIJAH MACK,
Plaintiff,
Vs.
NANCY A. BERRYHILL, Acting Commissioner
of Social Security,
Defendant.

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ORDER

THIS MATTER is before the Court upon Plaintiff’s Motions for Attorney’s Fees (Doc.
No. 14) and Motion for Reimbursement of Filing Fee (Doc. No. 16). Defendant has consented to
the reimbursement of the filing fee under the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA), 28 U.S.C. §
2412(d). Defendant also consents that attorney’s fees are justified under the EAJA. However,
Defendant asserts that the fees initially requested by Plaintiff’s attorney are unreasonably high
and include tasks that constitute clerical work, which is not compensable under the EAJA.
Elliott v. Astrue, No. 2:09-cv-37, 2012 WL 3191027, at *3 (W.D.N.C. Aug. 3, 2012).
The fee applicant bears the burden of establishing the reasonable time expended as well
as a reasonable rate. Hyatt v. Barnhart, 315 F.3d 239, 253 (4th Cir. 2002). Although Plaintiff, in
his reply, has conceded that 4.4 billable hours that were initially requested are non-compensable,
this Court further finds that the 4 hours billed by Plaintiff’s attorney on 8/30/2016 for “Research,
prepare and file Complaints and Summons” also includes clerical tasks and is an unreasonable
amount of time in light of the fact that the Complaint was only two pages in length. Similarly,
the Court finds that the 5 hours allocated for “Prepare reply brief” is also excessive in light of the

fact that Plaintiff’s response was only two pages in length and did not require additional legal
research.
Accordingly, the Court exercises its discretion and reduces the billable hours for those
two entries by half, to 2 hours for drafting the Complaint and 2.5 hours for drafting the
Response. The total time that will be awarded is thus 16.7 hours. At Plaintiff’s attorney’s set
rate of $192.68 per hour, the total fees amount to $3,217.76.
Plaintiff’s Motion for Attorney’s Fees (Doc. No. 14) is GRANTED IN PART, DENIED
IN PART, in accordance with the above. Plaintiff’s Motion for Reimbursement (Doc. No. 16) is
GRANTED.
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that Defendant pay the sum of $3,217.76 to Plaintiff in
costs for attorney’s fees, and that Defendant pay the sum of $400.00 to Plaintiff in costs as
reimbursement of Plaintiff’s filing fee, pursuant to the Equal Access to Justice Act, 28 U.S.C. §
2412(d).

Signed: December 11, 2017