Wilson v. Kijakazi

Background

Carleen Wilson applied for Social Security disability benefits in May 2018. The Commissioner denied her claim initially and again after reconsideration. An Administrative Law Judge found that she was not disabled under the Social Security Act, and the Appeals Council declined to review that decision.

Wilson then sought judicial review in federal court. Both sides filed motions for summary judgment, which ask the court to decide whether the administrative decision should stand based on the record. A magistrate judge recommended granting Wilson’s motion, denying the Commissioner’s motion, and sending the case back to the Social Security Administration. The district court adopted that recommendation and remanded the case.

The court later awarded Wilson $7,600 in attorney fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act, a federal law that can allow a party who succeeds against the government to recover certain legal fees. On remand, the Social Security Administration awarded Wilson past-due disability benefits and withheld $23,014.98 as a representative’s fee. Wilson asked the court to award that amount to her counsel under Section 406(b) of the Social Security Act and to require counsel to refund the earlier $7,600 fee.

Fee request

Section 406(b) allows a court to approve a reasonable fee for a lawyer who successfully represented a Social Security claimant in federal court, subject to a limit of 25 percent of the claimant’s past-due benefits. Wilson’s contingent-fee agreement set the fee at 25 percent, which did not exceed the statutory limit.

The court independently reviewed whether the requested fee was reasonable. It considered the quality and complexity of the representation, the size of the administrative record, the risk that counsel would not be paid if the appeal failed, whether counsel caused delay, and whether the fee would be disproportionate to the time spent. Counsel reported spending 43.3 hours reviewing the case and litigating the appeal. Using 40 hours, the court calculated an effective hourly rate of $575.37, below counsel’s stated ordinary rate of $595 per hour. The court found that the fee would not be an improper windfall.

Ruling

Judge Susan Richard Nelson granted Wilson’s motion for attorney fees. The court awarded counsel $23,014.98 under Section 406(b) and ordered counsel to refund Wilson the $7,600 previously awarded under the Equal Access to Justice Act. The court explained that when counsel receives fees for the same work under both laws, the claimant must receive a refund of the smaller fee.

The opinion notes a 74-cent discrepancy in the benefits figures stated in the Social Security Administration’s notice, but the court treated it as a rounding error and stated that the discrepancy did not affect its analysis because only the amount withheld for fees mattered.