Bivins v. O'Malley

Background

Ann Bivins brought the underlying action under the Social Security Act to challenge the Commissioner’s denial of benefits. On November 20, 2023, the court granted Bivins’s motion for summary judgment and remanded the case for further proceedings. The parties later obtained an award of $9,800 in attorney’s fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act.

After the remand, the Commissioner granted Bivins’s application and awarded her $83,389 in retroactive benefits. Bivins’s attorney, Katherine R. Siegfried, then sought $19,000 under section 206(b) of the Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. § 406(b). The opinion states that Bivins had agreed to pay counsel up to 25% of her past-due benefits under a contingent-fee agreement. No opposition to the motion was filed.

Legal standard

Section 406(b) permits a federal court that enters a favorable judgment for a represented claimant to approve a reasonable attorney’s fee of no more than 25% of the claimant’s past-due benefits resulting from that judgment. The court must independently review the requested amount for reasonableness. The court first considers the contingent-fee agreement and then evaluates factors such as the quality of the representation, the result obtained, delays, and whether the fee is disproportionate to the time spent.

Fees awarded under section 406(b) are paid from the claimant’s past-due benefits. When the attorney also received fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act, the attorney must refund the smaller fee to the claimant.

Court’s analysis

The court found that Siegfried met her burden to show that the requested fee was reasonable. The 25% fee agreement was within the statutory limit, there was no evidence of substandard performance, and the representation resulted in Bivins receiving $83,389 in past-due benefits.

Siegfried stated that her usual hourly rate for appellate cases unrelated to Social Security was $500. She reported spending 43.4 hours on the case, making the requested fee equivalent to an hourly rate of $437.79, which was lower than that usual rate. The court also considered the risks of contingency-fee work and cited cases approving higher effective hourly rates.

Because the court found the section 406(b) request reasonable, it ordered counsel to refund the full $9,800 Equal Access to Justice Act award previously paid to Bivins.

Disposition

The court GRANTED counsel’s motion for attorney’s fees. It directed the Commissioner to certify $19,000 in fees under 42 U.S.C. § 406(b), payable to Katherine Siegfried, and ORDERED counsel to refund the $9,800 Equal Access to Justice Act fee award to Ann Bivins.