Christopher C. Gonzales v. Commissioner of Social Security Administration

Summary

The United States District Court for the District of Arizona granted Plaintiff’s attorney’s petition for attorney fees under 42 U.S.C. § 406(b) in the amount of $30,777.75 following a sentence-four remand and favorable Social Security disability determination. The court found the fee reasonable after excluding 5.5 hours of clerical work. Because counsel had also received an EAJA award of $5,685.87, the court ordered counsel to refund that amount to the plaintiff after receiving the § 406(b) fee.

Holdings

1. A requested Social Security attorney fee may be awarded under § 406(b)(1) when it does not exceed 25 percent of past-due benefits and is reasonable in light of the contingent-fee agreement, the character of the representation, the results achieved, the absence of substandard representation or delay, and the absence of a windfall. The requested $30,777.75 fee was reasonable and was granted.
2. Time spent by nonlawyers on purely clerical tasks is not compensable as legal services in a § 406(b) fee award and must be excluded from the reasonableness calculation.
3. When counsel receives fees under both the EAJA and § 406(b), counsel must refund the smaller fee directly to the claimant; the court may not direct the Commissioner to perform that refund by reducing the § 406(b) payment.

Questions Presented

1. Whether counsel's requested $30,777.75 fee under 42 U.S.C. § 406(b)(1) was reasonable.
2. Whether the court could direct the Commissioner to subtract the previously awarded $5,685.87 EAJA fee from the § 406(b) award and refund the balance to the claimant, rather than requiring counsel to make the refund.

Disposition

other