Gerry W. v. O'Malley
- Elizabeth Wright
- 0:23-cv-02010
- U.S. District Court · District of Minnesota
- 5
In Gerry W. v. O'Malley, Judge Wright denied Gerry W.'s late Equal Access to Justice Act fee motion.
Gerry W.'s request for attorney fees and costs was denied; the opinion does not state that the underlying disability-benefits case was resolved by this order.
What happened
Gerry W. sued for review of a decision denying disability benefits. The court had remanded the case for further administrative action and entered judgment on July 3, 2024.
Gerry W. then requested $5,528.40 in attorney fees and $402 in costs under the Equal Access to Justice Act. The Commissioner objected that the request was filed too late.
Judge Elizabeth Cowan Wright ruled that the request was seven days late and that Gerry W. gave no reason supporting an extension of the deadline. The court denied the fee motion as untimely.
The detailed version
- Gerry W. v. O'Malley · No. 0:23-cv-02010
- Elizabeth Wright
- Jan. 10, 2025
Background
Gerry W. filed the underlying case seeking judicial review of a final decision denying his application for disability benefits. On July 2, 2024, the court granted in part his motion for summary judgment and remanded the case to the Commissioner under sentence four of 42 U.S.C. § 405(g) for a supplemental hearing and further administrative action. The court entered judgment on July 3, 2024.
The complaint named Martin O'Malley. The order states that Carolyn W. Colvin became Acting Commissioner on November 30, 2024, and should be substituted as the defendant under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 25(d).
Fee motion and deadline
Gerry W. filed a motion for attorney fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act on October 10, 2024. He requested $5,528.40 in attorney fees and $402 in costs. The Commissioner objected that the motion was untimely, and Gerry W. filed no reply.
The court explained that an Equal Access to Justice Act fee application must be filed within 30 days after a final judgment. For this purpose, a judgment becomes final when it is no longer appealable. Because the federal government was a party, the appeal period was 60 days. The court determined that the appeal period ended on September 3, 2024, so the fee application deadline was October 3, 2024. Gerry W. filed the motion on October 10, seven days late.
Equitable tolling
Equitable tolling is a doctrine that can extend a filing deadline when a person has pursued legal rights diligently but an extraordinary circumstance prevented a timely filing. The court stated that this doctrine can apply to the Equal Access to Justice Act deadline, but that ordinary excusable neglect is not enough.
The court found that Gerry W. offered no reason or explanation for the late filing. He therefore did not show either diligent pursuit of his rights or an extraordinary circumstance that prevented timely filing. The court concluded that there was no basis for equitable tolling.
Disposition
Judge Elizabeth Cowan Wright denied Gerry W.'s Motion for Attorney's Fees Pursuant to the Equal Access to Justice Act, 28 U.S.C. § 2412, as untimely.
Read the full 5-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.