Jordan S.H. v. Saul
- Elizabeth Wright
- 0:20-cv-00511
- U.S. District Court · District of Minnesota
- 5
In Jordan S.H. v. Kijakazi, Judge Wright granted in part and denied in part a fee petition under the Equal Access to Justice Act, awarding $7,103.34.
Jordan S.H. and his counsel receive the $7,103.34 EAJA award, subject to any required offset for Jordan S.H.’s qualifying debts to the United States; the defendant must send the remaining payment to counsel’s office.
What happened
In Jordan S.H. v. Kilolo Kijakazi, the plaintiff’s lawyer asked for $7,105.05 in fees after the court had sent the disability-benefits case back to the Social Security Administration.
The court found that the 34.2 hours billed were reasonable. It approved a cost-of-living-adjusted hourly rate of $207.70, rather than the requested $207.75, and awarded $7,103.34.
Judge Elizabeth Cowan Wright granted in part and denied in part the fee petition. The award is payable to Jordan S.H., may be reduced to cover qualifying debts owed to the United States, and must then be sent to the lawyer’s office under the assignment of fees.
The detailed version
- Jordan S.H. v. Saul · No. 0:20-cv-00511
- Elizabeth Wright
- Sept. 8, 2021
Background
Jordan S.H. brought the underlying case seeking review of a final decision denying his application for disability insurance benefits. The court previously granted his motion for summary judgment and remanded the case to the Commissioner under sentence four of 42 U.S.C. § 405(g).
This order addressed Plaintiff’s Counsel’s Petition for Attorney Fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA), 28 U.S.C. § 2412. The petition requested $7,105.05 for 34.2 hours of work performed in 2020 and 2021. The Commissioner filed a response stating that there were no objections to the requested amount and did not claim that the government’s position had been substantially justified.
Analysis
The EAJA generally permits a prevailing party to recover reasonable attorney’s fees in litigation against the United States unless the government’s position was substantially justified or special circumstances would make an award unjust. Fees above the statutory rate of $125 per hour may be allowed when an increase in the cost of living supports a higher rate.
The court accepted the use of the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers to calculate the cost-of-living adjustment. It determined that the correct adjusted rate was $207.70 per hour, calculated as $125 multiplied by the February 2020 index of 258.7 and divided by 155.7. The court found that counsel’s 34.2 hours and the legal work performed were not excessive or unreasonable.
Disposition
Judge Elizabeth Cowan Wright ordered that the fee petition be granted in part and denied in part. The court awarded $7,103.34 in reasonable attorney’s fees, calculated as 34.2 hours multiplied by $207.70, rather than the $7,105.05 requested.
The award is payable to Jordan S.H. as the litigant and is subject to offset for any pre-existing debts Jordan S.H. may owe to the United States. Under the assignment of attorney’s fees, the defendant must send the payment, after any required offset, to the office of Karl E. Osterhout, Esq.
Read the full 5-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.