French v. Social Security Administration, Commissioner of

Filing 29

ORDER ACCEPTING IN WHOLE 27 Report and Recommendations. It is ORDERED, for the reasons stated in the Report and Recommendation, which the court adopts and incorporates into its ruling, that plaintiffs 25 Motion for Attorney Fees under the EAJA is GRANTED, as modified, and plaintiff is hereby awarded attorney fees in the amount of $5,455.65. Signed by District Judge Pamela L Reeves on 7/20/2015. (MGM)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
EASTERN DISTRICT OF TENNESSEE
AT KNOXVILLE

KELLY ANN FRENCH,
Plaintiff,

v.

CAROLYN W. COLVIN,
Acting Commissioner of Social Security,
Defendant.

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No. 3:14-CV-138-PLR-HBG

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

This Social Security appeal is before the court for consideration of plaintiff’s
objections [R. 28], to the Report and Recommendation filed by United States Magistrate
Judge, H. Bruce Guyton [R. 27]. Magistrate Judge Guyton found that plaintiff failed to
meet her burden of demonstrating the reasonableness of the hours requested by her
counsel. Thus, Magistrate Judge Guyton recommended that plaintiff’s requested EAJA
fees be reduced by a total of 4.2 hours, and that plaintiff’s request for attorney fees be
reduced from $6,395.40 to $5,455.65.
Plaintiff disagrees with the Magistrate Judge’s finding that some of the hours
submitted by her counsel were for non-compensable time.

The Magistrate Judge

correctly found that entries for copying, mailing, forwarding, printing, calendaring, filing,

and file organization are strictly clerical in nature and non-compensable. See Rodriguez
v. Astrue, 2012 WL 2905928 at *3 (reviewing emails, forwarding copies of court
documents, and redocketing were non-compensable). Plaintiff has cited no case law to
the contrary. In addition, plaintiff has not explained to the court’s satisfaction why her
counsel required 2.5 hours to review routine motions/orders for extensions of time to file
pleadings.
After a careful review of the record, and plaintiff’s objections, the court is in
complete agreement with Magistrate Judge Guyton’s recommendation that plaintiff’s
motion for EAJA fees be reduced. Accordingly, the court ACCEPTS IN WHOLE the
Report and Recommendation under 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1); Fed.R.Civ.P. 72(b). It is
ORDERED, for the reasons stated in the Report and Recommendation, which the court
adopts and incorporates into its ruling, that plaintiff’s motion for attorney fees under the
EAJA [R. 25] is GRANTED, as modified, and plaintiff is hereby awarded attorney fees
in the amount of $5,455.65.
IT IS SO ORDERED.

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

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