Quezada v. Commissioner Social Security
- Barbara Moses
- 1:17-cv-06572-BCM
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 4
In Quezada v. Commissioner, Judge Moses denied the attorney’s $11,267.75 Social Security fee request and ordered release of the withheld benefits.
Juana E. Quezada, whose withheld benefits were ordered released, and attorney Irwin B. Silverman, whose requested $11,267.75 fee was denied.
What happened
In Juana E. Quezada v. Commissioner of Social Security, Quezada’s attorney asked the court to approve a $11,267.75 fee from benefits withheld by the Social Security Administration after the case was sent back for further proceedings.
The court found the request was filed too late—14 months after the agency’s notice of the benefits calculation—and the filing gave no explanation for the delay. The attorney also did not provide the fee agreement needed for the court to assess whether the requested fee was reasonable.
Judge Barbara Moses denied the fee request. The court ordered the Social Security Administration, when judgment was entered, to release the remaining $11,267.75 in withheld benefits to Quezada.
The detailed version
- Quezada v. Commissioner Social Security · No. 1:17-cv-06572-BCM
- Barbara Moses
- Oct. 4, 2022
Background
The Social Security Administration denied Juana E. Quezada’s application for disability benefits, and she filed an action in the Southern District of New York through attorney Irwin B. Silverman. The parties later signed a stipulation, approved by the court, sending the case back to the agency for further proceedings.
Silverman moved under Section 406(b) of the Social Security Act for approval of a contingent fee of $11,267.75. The agency’s September 20, 2020 notice of award stated that Quezada’s past-due benefits totaled $69,071.00 and that 25%, or $17,267.75, had been withheld for representative fees. The agency had already used $6,000.00 of that amount for work performed before the agency, leaving $11,267.75 potentially available for court-related fees.
Reasons for Denial
The court explained that a fee request under Section 406(b) generally must be filed within 14 days after the claimant receives notice of the agency’s benefits calculation. Courts may extend that deadline when circumstances warrant, including when the delay resulted from excusable neglect. Here, however, Silverman first filed the fee motion 14 months after the notice of award, and the motion papers did not explain the delay. The court therefore concluded that the request was untimely.
The court also held that it could not evaluate the requested fee because Silverman did not submit the contingent-fee agreement with Quezada. Section 406(b) permits court review of fee arrangements to ensure that they produce a reasonable result, including review for fraud or improper pressure. Although Silverman stated that payment was contingent on successful prosecution, he did not state what payment had been agreed upon or provide evidence of the agreement.
The Commissioner raised additional arguments, including that no Equal Access to Justice Act fee had been requested and that Silverman had spent only 20 hours working on the case in court. The court did not reach those arguments.
Disposition
Judge Barbara Moses denied Quezada’s motion for the $11,267.75 Section 406(b) fee. Upon entry of judgment, the Social Security Administration was ordered to release the remaining $11,267.75 in withheld past-due benefits to Quezada. The opinion does not state that the denial was with or without prejudice.
Read the full 4-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.