Kimbrough v. Commissioner of Social Security
- Analisa Torres
- 1:20-cv-06785
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Kimbrough v. Commissioner, Judge Torres approved substitution and $48,878.50 in attorney’s fees, payable from past-due benefits.
Ora Kimbrough, the estate-related interests represented through the substitution, plaintiff’s counsel, and the Social Security Administration are affected. The order substitutes Ora Kimbrough, directs the Social Security Administration to pay $48,878.50 in attorney’s fees from past-due benefits, and requires counsel to refund $6,900 in earlier fees.
What happened
In Thomasina Kimbrough v. Commissioner of Social Security, the court had previously ordered further proceedings after granting Thomasina Kimbrough’s request for judgment on the pleadings in her Social Security case. The court had also approved $6,900 in earlier attorney’s fees.
Thomasina Kimbrough died, and her mother, Ora Kimbrough, repeatedly asked to be substituted as the plaintiff and renewed a request for attorney’s fees. A magistrate judge recommended granting both requests. No one objected to that recommendation.
Judge Analisa Torres found no clear error and adopted the recommendation in full. The court substituted Ora Kimbrough as plaintiff, directed payment of $48,878.50 in attorney’s fees from Thomasina Kimbrough’s past-due benefits, required the lawyer to refund the earlier $6,900 fee award, and closed the case.
The detailed version
- Kimbrough v. Commissioner of Social Security · No. 1:20-cv-06785
- Analisa Torres
- Aug. 20, 2026
Background
Thomasina Kimbrough filed this Social Security action on August 24, 2020. In March 2022, the court adopted a report and recommendation granting Kimbrough’s motion for judgment on the pleadings and remanding the matter to the Social Security Administration for further proceedings. In May 2022, the court approved the parties’ stipulation awarding $6,900 in attorney’s fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act.
Kimbrough died on February 23, 2023. Her mother, Ora Kimbrough, moved to substitute herself as plaintiff under Rule 25(a)(1) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The court previously denied two substitution motions without prejudice because Ora Kimbrough had not shown that she was a proper party for substitution. The court also stated that the attorney’s-fee request would be addressed if Ora Kimbrough became a proper substituted party.
Report and Recommendation
On May 29, 2026, Ora Kimbrough filed a third motion to substitute herself as plaintiff and renewed her request for attorney’s fees. In a July 27, 2026 report and recommendation, Judge Valerie Figueredo recommended granting both motions. The recommendation also stated that any fee award should be paid from Thomasina Kimbrough’s past-due benefits and that, after receiving that award, counsel should refund the previously awarded $6,900 in Equal Access to Justice Act fees.
No objections were filed by the deadline. Because there were no objections, Judge Torres reviewed the report and recommendation for clear error, meaning an obvious mistake. She found no clear error.
Ruling
The court adopted Judge Figueredo’s report and recommendation in its entirety. It substituted Ora Kimbrough as plaintiff and directed the Social Security Administration to approve payment of $48,878.50 in attorney’s fees to plaintiff’s counsel from Thomasina Kimbrough’s past-due benefits under 42 U.S.C. § 406(b). The court required counsel to refund the $6,900 Equal Access to Justice Act fee to the plaintiff immediately after receiving the § 406(b) award.
Counsel must file a letter certifying compliance by February 22, 2027. The clerk was directed to substitute Ora Kimbrough as plaintiff, terminate the motions listed at ECF Nos. 50 and 57, and close the case.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.