Fox v. Commissioner of Social Security
- Gabriel Gorenstein
- 1:23-cv-05042
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 5
In Fox v. Commissioner, Judge Gorenstein granted counsel’s motion for $12,320.25 in fees and ordered a $4,750 refund.
David Fox and his attorney; the order approved counsel’s $12,320.25 fee and required counsel to return $4,750.00 to Fox.
What happened
In Fox v. Commissioner of Social Security, the agency initially denied David Fox’s application for disability benefits. After Fox filed a federal lawsuit, the parties agreed to send the matter back to the agency, which later found Fox disabled and awarded him $49,281.00 in past-due benefits.
Fox’s lawyer asked for $12,320.25, the 25% fee withheld from those benefits under the fee agreement. The court found the request reasonable because counsel achieved a favorable result, did not delay the case, and spent 18.7 hours on the federal court proceeding. The court also considered counsel’s experience and the uncertainty of obtaining benefits.
Judge Gabriel W. Gorenstein granted the motion for $12,320.25. Because counsel had already received $4,750.00 under a separate fee law, the judge ordered counsel to return that $4,750.00 to Fox.
The detailed version
- Fox v. Commissioner of Social Security · No. 1:23-cv-05042
- Gabriel Gorenstein
- Feb. 13, 2025
Background
The Social Security Administration initially denied David Fox’s application for a period of disability and disability insurance benefits after a hearing before an Administrative Law Judge. Fox then filed this federal case and moved for judgment on the pleadings, asking the court to rule based on the existing administrative record. The parties stipulated to send the matter back to the agency.
After the remand, the Commissioner found Fox disabled and awarded him $49,281.00 in past-due benefits. The Commissioner withheld 25% of that amount, or $12,320.25, for attorney fees. Fox had agreed to pay his attorney 25% of any past-due benefits. The court had also previously awarded counsel $4,750.00 under the Equal Access to Justice Act, a federal law allowing certain fee awards against the government.
Fee request
Counsel asked the court to approve the full $12,320.25 under 42 U.S.C. § 406(b), which allows a court to approve a reasonable fee for representation in federal court, subject to a 25% cap on past-due benefits. The government took no position on the request.
The court considered whether the requested contingency fee was reasonable. It found that the quality and results of the representation supported the request because counsel filed a detailed legal memorandum, obtained a remand, and ultimately helped secure an award of benefits. The court found no evidence that counsel delayed the proceedings to increase the potential fee.
Counsel’s attorneys spent a combined 18.7 hours on the federal court proceeding, producing a requested effective hourly rate of $658.84. The court nevertheless found that this rate did not alone establish a windfall. It also considered counsel’s experience and expertise, the time spent relative to the work required, counsel’s representation of Fox throughout the federal litigation, the favorable agency decision, the lack of any indication that Fox objected, and the uncertainty that benefits would be awarded before the case was filed.
Ruling
The court concluded that the requested fee did not warrant a reduction and granted counsel’s motion for an award of $12,320.25. Because counsel had received the $4,750.00 Equal Access to Justice Act award, the court ordered counsel to return that amount to Fox. The opinion states that counsel must refund the smaller of the two fee awards; here, that was $4,750.00.
Read the full 5-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.