Opinion ID: 430745
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: the eaja and social security benefits cases

Text: 8 The Social Security Act, section 406(b), provides that a court may award attorneys' fees in a civil action brought to recover past-due benefits under Title II of that Act. 42 U.S.C. Sec. 406(b)(1). The stated purpose of the provision is to protect Social Security claimants from inordinately large fees demanded by attorneys. S.Rep. No. 404, 89th Cong., 1st Sess., reprinted in 1965 U.S.Code Cong. & Ad.News 1943, 2062. The maximum amount awardable is 25 percent of the total past-due benefits. 42 U.S.C. Sec. 406(b)(1). The fees are payable out of, and not in addition to the award of benefits. Id. 9 The EAJA was enacted to reduce the chance that the expense involved in securing the vindication of ... rights would deter defen[se] against unreasonable governmental action. H.R.Rep. No. 1418, 96th Cong., 2d Sess. 5, reprinted in 1980 U.S.Code Cong. & Ad.News 4984, 4984. To do so it shifts the burden of the prevailing party's attorneys' fees and expenses onto the government under some circumstances. The EAJA provides that [e]xcept as otherwise specifically provided by statute, a court may award fees and expenses to a party prevailing against the United States in a civil action. 28 U.S.C. Sec. 2412(d)(1)(A) (Supp. IV 1980). 10 The Secretary contends that section 406(b) of the Social Security Act is a statute that otherwise specifically provides for attorneys' fees, precluding any award under the EAJA. We disagree. The EAJA provides for shifting the burden of attorneys' fees from the private litigant to the government. The Social Security Act does not provide for fee shifting. It specifies only a limitation on the amount that a claimant must pay toward lawyers' fees. 11 Section 406(b) of the Social Security Act does not specifically provide for an award of attorneys' fees to be paid by the United States to a party prevailing against it. Section 406(b) does not preclude application of the EAJA's fee shifting provisions in Social Security Act cases. 12