Donna M. v. Andrew M. Saul
- 4:19-cv-03134-DMR
- U.S. District Court · Northern District of California
- 4
In Donna M. v. Kilolo Kijakazi, the court granted counsel’s fee motion, awarded $40,000, and required a $5,074.42 refund.
Donna M. receives the benefit of the fee refund, while her attorney, Harvey Sackett, receives the $40,000 section 406(b) fee award. The order also concerns past-due benefits awarded to Donna M.’s three children.
What happened
In Donna M. v. Kilolo Kijakazi, Donna M. sought attorneys’ fees after the court had granted her summary-judgment motion and sent her Social Security case back for further proceedings.
After remand, an administrative judge found Donna M. disabled and awarded $218,343 in past-due disability benefits, including benefits for her three children. Her lawyer, Harvey Sackett, requested $40,000 under the Social Security Act.
The court found the request reasonable and granted the motion. It awarded $40,000 in fees and required Sackett to refund Donna M. the $5,074.42 previously awarded under the Equal Access to Justice Act. The judge’s name is not stated in the opinion text; the ruling was issued by the court.
The detailed version
- Donna M. v. Andrew M. Saul · No. 4:19-cv-03134-DMR
- Dec. 28, 2023
Background
Donna M. challenged a Social Security Administration decision finding that she was no longer disabled and was not entitled to continued benefits. The court previously granted her motion for summary judgment and remanded the case for further administrative proceedings.
On remand, an administrative law judge found Donna M. disabled and entitled to past-due disability benefits. The Social Security Administration awarded $218,343 in total past-due benefits: $143,527.80 to Donna M. and $74,815.20 to her three children as auxiliary beneficiaries.
Donna M.’s lawyer, Harvey Sackett, sought $40,000 in attorneys’ fees under 42 U.S.C. § 406(b). The fee agreement allowed him to request up to 25% of the past-due benefits. The requested amount was less than that statutory maximum. Sackett reported spending 28.5 hours litigating the case in federal court. He also had to refund Donna M. the $5,074.42 previously awarded under the Equal Access to Justice Act.
Legal standard
Section 406(b) permits an attorney who successfully represented a Social Security claimant in federal court to seek fees of up to 25% of the past-due benefits later awarded. The court must independently review the fee arrangement to determine whether it produces a reasonable result. Courts may reduce the requested amount if the representation was substandard, the attorney caused delay, or the fee would be an improper windfall.
A fee awarded under section 406(b) must be offset by any Equal Access to Justice Act fee award. The attorney may receive awards under both laws, but must refund the smaller award to the claimant.
Court’s analysis
The court found the requested $40,000 reasonable. It noted that the amount did not exceed 25% of the past-due benefits and that Sackett’s reported hours appeared reasonable. The court explained that the hourly-rate method used in many fee disputes should not control section 406(b) awards because these cases involve the risk of contingent-fee representation.
The court also noted that comparable or larger section 406(b) fees had been awarded in other California federal cases. Nothing in the record suggested that Sackett provided substandard representation, and he obtained a substantial past-due-benefits award for Donna M. The court therefore concluded that the fee was not excessively large compared with the benefits achieved.
Disposition
The court granted the motion for attorneys’ fees and awarded $40,000. Sackett was ordered to refund Donna M. the $5,074.42 previously awarded under the Equal Access to Justice Act. The opinion text does not identify the judge by name.
Read the full 4-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.