Daniel M. v. Saul

Issue

The court addressed Plaintiff’s Counsel’s petition for attorney fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act, a federal law that can require the United States to pay reasonable fees to a prevailing party in qualifying civil actions unless the government’s position was substantially justified or special circumstances make an award unfair.

Fee request and objection

The plaintiff requested $9,678.35 for the work of attorneys Karl Osterhout and Edward Olson. The Commissioner objected only to the amount requested, arguing that certain tasks took an unreasonable amount of time and that the award should not exceed $7,554.03 for lead and local counsel combined.

Court’s analysis

The court reviewed the case file, the attorneys’ hourly-rate calculations, and their itemized time entries. It found that a moderate reduction was appropriate for time spent reviewing the relatively short record and conducting legal research. The court reduced Mr. Osterhout’s compensable time from the 45.1 hours requested to 40 hours. It rejected the Commissioner’s request to reduce Mr. Olson’s time.

Ruling

The court found that $8,656.42 was a reasonable attorney-fee award. It granted the fee petition, awarded the plaintiff $8,656.42, and made the award subject to offset by any preexisting debt the plaintiff owed to the United States. The court ordered the Commissioner to pay the award, less any applicable offset, by December 10, 2019, and directed that judgment be entered.