Urbancik v. Saul
- James Cott
- 1:19-cv-11735
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 11
In Urbancik v. Saul, Judge Cott awarded $9,584.16 in Equal Access to Justice Act fees, reducing the requested amount because counsel billed excessive hours.
John Emil Urbancik and his attorneys were awarded $9,584.16 in fees instead of the $15,225.84 requested; the Commissioner of Social Security opposed only the amount of the request.
What happened
Urbancik v. Saul concerned John Emil Urbancik’s request for attorney’s fees after the Social Security case was sent back for further proceedings. He sought $15,225.84 under the Equal Access to Justice Act.
Andrew Saul, the Social Security Commissioner, did not dispute that Urbancik qualified for fees or that the government’s position lacked substantial justification. He argued only that Urbancik’s attorneys had billed too many hours.
Judge James L. Cott found the nearly 64 hours excessive and awarded $9,584.16. The court granted in part and denied in part Urbancik’s fee motion.
The detailed version
- Urbancik v. Saul · No. 1:19-cv-11735
- James Cott
- Nov. 12, 2020
Background
John Emil Urbancik challenged the Commissioner of Social Security’s denial of his application for disability insurance benefits under 42 U.S.C. § 405(g). After the administrative record was filed and Urbancik moved for judgment on the pleadings, the parties stipulated to a remand for further administrative proceedings. The court ordered the remand, and judgment was entered.
Urbancik then moved for attorney’s fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA), a statute that can require the government to pay a prevailing party’s reasonable litigation fees. His attorneys requested $15,225.84, including fees for 63.7 hours spent litigating the underlying case and 8.37 hours spent preparing the fee-motion reply.
The Commissioner did not challenge Urbancik’s eligibility for EAJA fees or argue that the government’s position was substantially justified. The Commissioner challenged only the amount, arguing that the hours were excessive and that the court should award $1,852.04.
Court’s analysis
The court accepted the proposed hourly rates as reasonable. It concluded, however, that the nearly 64 hours spent on the case were excessive. The court noted that the issues identified by Urbancik—whether post-traumatic stress disorder was a severe impairment, whether his impairments met certain listings, and whether his residual functional capacity was properly evaluated—were routine rather than novel or complex.
The court also considered that the case was remanded after only the opening brief was filed, while the usual 20-to-40-hour range for many Social Security disability cases generally involves more briefing. The 749-page administrative record was not particularly long for a Social Security case. The court further found that Portnoy’s nearly 46 hours spent drafting and revising the factual and medical summary were inefficient because McAdam had represented Urbancik in the administrative proceedings and could have prepared that portion more efficiently. The court did not find meaningful duplication of effort by the two attorneys.
The court declined to eliminate all compensation for the briefing. It found that the briefing was not unnecessary because the Commissioner agreed to remand only after receiving Urbancik’s arguments for remand, and the research and evaluation used in the briefing contributed to a remand with detailed instructions.
Disposition
Judge James L. Cott awarded Urbancik $9,584.16 in EAJA fees. The award included 30 hours for Portnoy at $211.56 per hour, 8.7 hours for McAdam at the requested rates, and 8.37 hours for the reply papers at $210.68 per hour, reduced by 20 percent. The award was approximately 37 percent less than the amount requested. The court directed the Clerk to close Docket No. 23 and mark the motion as granted in part and denied in part.
Read the full 11-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.