Weiss v. Kijakazi

Background

A magistrate judge issued a Report and Recommendation on March 5, 2025, recommending that the plaintiff’s counsel receive $39,795 in attorney’s fees under 42 U.S.C. § 406(b). No party filed an objection.

The recommendation found that counsel’s effective hourly rate of $1,259.34 and total billing of 31.6 hours were reasonable. The court noted that fees may be unreasonable if they amount to a windfall, meaning the benefit is large compared with the time spent. The Report found that the hourly rate was within the range typically awarded in the district and that the billed hours were within the standard range for a Social Security action.

The Report also found that counsel could recover the full award without returning any money to the plaintiff. A lawyer who receives fees under both the Equal Access to Justice Act and § 406(b) generally must refund the smaller fee to the client. That issue did not apply here because the plaintiff’s counsel had not received fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act.

Court’s Review

When reviewing a magistrate judge’s report and recommendation, a district judge may accept, reject, or modify it. When no timely objection is filed, the district court reviews the record for clear error, meaning an obvious mistake.

Ruling

The court found no clear error on the face of the record and adopted the Report and Recommendation. It awarded the plaintiff’s counsel $39,795 in attorney’s fees and directed the clerk to close the motion at Docket No. 30.