Source: https://www.dol.gov/brb/decisions/lngshore/unpublished/Feb14/13-0348.htm
Timestamp: 2019-05-21 14:34:28
Document Index: 292921794

Matched Legal Cases: ['§901', '§1651', '§909', '§908', '§928', '§908', '§702', '§944', '§1701']

LHCA Unpublished Document: 13-0348: Hassan Wushayel Aziz v. Sallyport Global Services ...
BRB No. 13-0348
HASSAN WUSHAYEL AZIZ
BADRIYA HAMDI HAMDAN
(Parents of SADDAM HASSAN WUSHAYEL, deceased)
DATE ISSUED:  Feb. 24, 2014
Employer appeals the Supplemental Decision and Order Award of Attorney’s Fee (2010-LDA-00539) of Administrative Law Judge Daniel F. Solomon rendered on a claim filed pursuant to the provisions of the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act, as amended, 33 U.S.C. §901 et seq., as extended by the Defense Base Act, 42 U.S.C. §1651 et seq. (the Act). The amount of an attorney’s fee award is discretionary and will not be set aside unless shown by the challenging party to be arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion or not in accordance with law. Muscella v. Sun Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co., 12 BRBS 272 (1980).
Saddam Hassan Wushayel (decedent), along with eight of his co-workers, died on October 29, 2006, while in the course of his work as a translator for employer in Iraq. Employer, through its carrier, conducted an investigation into potential survivors who might be entitled to compensation under the Act. Based on employer’s representations, the district director found, pursuant to Section 9 of the Act, 33 U.S.C. §909, that decedent did not leave any eligible survivors. 1 However, investigations had discovered decedent’s parents (claimants) to be decedent’s dependents, and despite assurances from the investigators, no compensation had been paid as of 2009, prompting claimants to file a claim for death benefits under the Act.
On October 19, 2011, claimants’ counsel filed with the administrative law judge a petition seeking an attorney’s fee of $42,928.35, representing over 157 hours of work at hourly rates varying from $140 to $435, plus costs of $10,297.88. Employer requested several extensions of time in order to file objections but did not submit a response to the fee petition. After reducing the $140 hourly rate to $100 and denying itemized entries found to be clerical, in an Order dated March 15, 2013, the administrative law judge awarded claimants’ counsel an attorney’s fee, payable by employer, of $40,451.40, plus $10,297.88 in expenses, for work performed before him in this case.
In the interim between the filing of the fee petition with the administrative law judge and the issuance of the administrative law judge’s fee award, the parties engaged in negotiations to settle the claims for death benefits, commutation thereof, see 33 U.S.C. §§908(i), 909(g), and claimants’ counsel’s attorney fee, 33 U.S.C. §928(a). The parties ultimately reached agreements and submitted applications for approval of Section 8(i), 33 U.S.C. §908(i), settlements to the district director. Under the proposed agreements, decedent’s mother was to receive a lump sum payment of $17,436.42, decedent’s father a lump sum payment of $12,533.22, and their attorneys would receive a fee of $29,098.65 for each claim. The parties requested that the fee petition pending before the administrative law judge be dismissed as moot. Three months after the agreements were submitted, and after the administrative law judge had issued his fee award, the district director disapproved the settlement agreements because the parties had failed to provide claimants with a translated version of the settlement agreements or to obtain claimants’ signatures. See 20 C.F.R. §§702.242-702.243.
1. The district director issued an Order on June 16, 2009, for employer to pay funeral expenses and $5,000 into the Special Fund pursuant to Section 44(c)(1) of the Act, 33 U.S.C. §944(c)(1). Employer complied with the district director’s Order and subsequently applied for and received reimbursement under the War Hazards Compensation Act, 42 U.S.C. §1701 et seq.