Bay v. Commissioner of Social Security
- Robert Lehrburger
- 1:20-cv-09774
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In Bay v. Commissioner of Social Security, Judge Lehrburger granted counsel $28,285.25 and required a $3,640 refund to Bay.
Adagelis Bay and her counsel. Counsel receives the $28,285.25 Section 406(b) fee and must refund $3,640 to Bay.
What happened
In Bay v. Commissioner of Social Security, Adagelis Bay had obtained a court-ordered remand of the decision denying her Social Security Disability benefits and later received a substantial award of retroactive benefits. Her lawyer had already received $3,640 under the Equal Access to Justice Act and asked for $28,285.25 for work performed in court.
The court explained that fees for court representation may not exceed 25 percent of a claimant’s past-due benefits. It also reviewed the contingency-fee agreement for reasonableness, considering the work performed, the result obtained, and whether the fee was the product of overreaching or would be an unfair windfall. Any larger court-awarded fee must be reduced by the earlier Equal Access to Justice Act payment.
Judge Robert W. Lehrburger found the requested fee reasonable and granted the motion. He ordered that counsel receive $28,285.25 and refund $3,640 to Bay after receiving the fee.
The detailed version
- Bay v. Commissioner of Social Security · No. 1:20-cv-09774
- Robert Lehrburger
- Feb. 6, 2025
Background
Earlier in the case, Adagelis Bay successfully obtained a remand of the adverse decision denying her application for Social Security Disability benefits. After the remand, she obtained a substantial award of retroactive benefits. Her counsel had previously received $3,640 under the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA).
Counsel then moved for $28,285.25 in attorneys’ fees under 42 U.S.C. § 406(b)(1), which authorizes fees for a lawyer’s work representing a Social Security claimant in federal court. The court reviewed the parties’ filings and addressed the requested award.
Legal standard
Section 406(b) limits court-related attorneys’ fees to no more than 25 percent of the claimant’s total past-due benefits. The court noted that this limit applies to representation in court, not representation before the Social Security agency under Section 406(a). The court also explained that an EAJA award offsets a Section 406(b) award dollar for dollar: when the Section 406(b) fee is larger, counsel must refund the smaller EAJA payment to the claimant.
Because Social Security lawyers commonly work under contingency-fee agreements, the court must review the requested fee for reasonableness. Relevant considerations include the quality of the representation and the result obtained, as well as whether the agreement involved fraud or overreaching or would produce an improper windfall for counsel.
Ruling
Judge Robert W. Lehrburger found that the requested $28,285.25 fee was reasonable, was below 25 percent of Bay’s retroactive benefits, and was not the result of fraud or overreaching or an improper windfall. Counsel had spent 15.2 hours on the case, which the court found reasonable in light of the work performed. Although the resulting effective hourly rate was approximately $1,861, the court found it reasonable in the context of the contingency arrangement and the recovery obtained.
The court granted counsel’s motion and awarded $28,285.25 in attorneys’ fees. After receiving the fee, counsel must refund $3,640 to Bay, representing the EAJA payment previously received.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.