Martin v. Berryhill

Background

Adam C. Martin sued the Commissioner of Social Security seeking review of an administrative law judge’s April 4, 2018 decision finding him ineligible for Supplemental Security Income benefits. After the administrative record was filed and Martin moved for judgment on the pleadings, the assigned district judge signed a stipulation and order sending the case back to the agency under sentence four of 42 U.S.C. § 405(g). The opinion does not describe the reasons for that remand.

Martin then moved for attorney’s fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act, a federal law that can require the United States to pay reasonable fees for a qualifying party’s case. He requested $13,288.37. His attorneys, Timothy S. McAdam and Irwin M. Portnoy, submitted affirmations and time records. McAdam claimed 8.9 hours at $207.94 per hour, while Portnoy claimed 68.12 hours at that rate and identified a 13-hour reduction for billing judgment. The time records listed 65.31 hours for Portnoy.

Positions of the parties

Martin argued that he was the party who obtained the relief sought, that his petition was timely, and that the government’s position was not substantially justified. He also argued that the issues in the case were not routine and that his attorneys’ experience should not be used to reduce the requested hours.

The government challenged only the hours, not the $207.94 hourly rate. It argued that a typical Social Security disability case should require no more than 20 to 40 hours, that the lawyers spent excessive time on briefing, and that having two attorneys work on the brief caused duplication. It also identified allegedly incorrect or unsupported email entries and mathematical discrepancies in Portnoy’s request. The government asked that any award be limited to 40 hours of attorney time.

Court’s analysis

The court found that the $207.94 hourly rate was reasonable because it reflected a cost-of-living adjustment. It rejected the government’s argument that a longstanding 20-to-40-hour benchmark alone established that the requested hours were excessive.

The court nevertheless reduced McAdam’s hours from 8.9 to 7.4. It found that he had not rebutted the assertion that certain email communications did not occur and that some of the billed work involved administrative tasks, such as electronic filing and copying, rather than compensable legal services. The resulting award for McAdam was $1,538.76.

For Portnoy, the court noted that his affirmation and time records reported different totals and that his calculations contained unexplained discrepancies. The court was not persuaded that the case involved complex or novel legal issues, that the record was unusually large, or that the issues challenged in the administrative decision were exceptional. It found that 45 hours was a reasonable amount for Portnoy’s work. At $207.94 per hour, that produced an award of $9,357.30.

Disposition

The court granted Martin’s motion for attorney’s fees, Docket Entry No. 30. It awarded a total of $10,896.06 under the Equal Access to Justice Act: $1,538.76 for McAdam and $9,357.30 for Portnoy.