Santana v. Social Security
- Barbara Moses
- 1:22-cv-06014
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 5
In Santana v. Social Security, Judge Moses granted counsel $11,800 from past-due benefits and required a $1,752.25 refund to Santana.
Gleny Collado Santana and her attorneys, Binder & Binder. The attorneys may receive $11,800 from Santana’s past-due benefits but must refund $1,752.25 to Santana after receiving that award.
What happened
In Gleny Collado Santana v. Commissioner of Social Security, Santana challenged the denial of her disability-benefits application. The case was sent back to the Social Security Administration, which later found her disabled and awarded $84,173 in past-due benefits.
Santana’s attorneys asked for $11,800 from those past-due benefits under the Social Security Act. The Commissioner did not oppose the request but asked that Santana receive back the $1,752.25 previously awarded to her attorneys under a separate fee law.
Judge Moses granted the motion and awarded Binder & Binder $11,800. She directed the attorneys to refund $1,752.25 to Santana after receiving the fee award.
The detailed version
- Santana v. Social Security · No. 1:22-cv-06014
- Barbara Moses
- Jan. 3, 2025
Background
Gleny Collado Santana filed this action on July 14, 2022, challenging the denial of her application for disability benefits. The parties agreed to send the case back to the Social Security Administration for further proceedings, and the court approved that agreement on January 3, 2023. The court later awarded Santana’s attorneys $1,752.25 in fees and $402 in costs under the Equal Access to Justice Act.
After the case was sent back, the Social Security Administration found Santana disabled as of January 31, 2011. On November 30, 2024, the agency issued a notice stating that Santana was entitled to $84,173 in past-due benefits. The notice stated that $21,043.25 had been withheld for an approved lawyer fee.
Fee request
Santana’s retainer agreement with Charles E. Binder & Harry J. Binder Attorneys at Law, LLP, doing business as Binder & Binder, provided for a fee of up to 25% of past-due benefits if the case was sent back and Santana obtained an award. Binder & Binder asked the court to approve an $11,800 fee under Section 206(b) of the Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. § 406(b). The request was filed six days after the notice of award and was therefore timely.
The court considered whether the fee was reasonable. The $11,800 request was less than 14% of Santana’s past-due benefits, below the statutory 25% limit. The record contained no evidence that the retainer agreement resulted from fraud or attorney overreach.
Binder & Binder reported spending 7.4 hours on the federal-court action. The requested fee represented an effective hourly rate of $1,594.59. The court nevertheless found that the fee was not an improper windfall after considering the attorneys’ ability and expertise, the long professional relationship with Santana, the evidence concerning her satisfaction, and the uncertainty of contingency-fee representation. The attorneys obtained a stipulation sending the case back without motion practice, and the record showed that Santana ultimately received a substantial past-due-benefits award.
Ruling
Judge Barbara Moses granted Santana’s motion. The court awarded Binder & Binder $11,800, payable from Santana’s past-due benefits. The court also directed counsel, upon receiving the Section 406(b) award, to refund the previously awarded $1,752.25 Equal Access to Justice Act fee to Santana.
Read the full 5-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.