Opinion ID: 167618
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Fees in Social Security Cases

Text: 9 Attorneys handling Social Security proceedings in court may seek fees for their work under both the EAJA and the SSA. EAJA fees and fees available under § 406 are two different kinds of fees that must be separately awarded. Frazier v. Apfel, 240 F.3d 1284, 1286 (10th Cir.2001). There are several differences between the two types of fees. For example, EAJA fees are awarded based on a statutory maximum hourly rate, while SSA fees are based on reasonableness, with a maximum of twenty-five percent of claimant's past-due benefits. See id.; 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d)(2)(A); 42 U.S.C. § 406(b)(1). Also, [f]ees under § 406(b) satisfy a client's obligation to counsel and, therefore, are paid out of the plaintiff's social security benefits, while fees under the EAJA penalize the [Commissioner] for assuming an unjustified legal position and, accordingly, are paid out of agency funds. Orner v. Shalala, 30 F.3d 1307, 1309 (10th Cir.1994). In that vein, an EAJA award is to the claimant, while counsel receives an SSA award. See 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d)(1)(A) (making award to a prevailing party); 42 U.S.C. § 406(b)(1) (providing for attorney's payment of approved fee out of past-due benefits). Finally, EAJA fee awards are allowed only if the government's position was not substantially justified or there are no special circumstances that make an award unjust. 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d)(1)(A). SSA funds are not so conditioned. 42 U.S.C. § 406(b)(1). If counsel is awarded fees under both the EAJA and the SSA, counsel must refund the smaller amount to the claimant. See Gisbrecht v. Barnhart, 535 U.S. 789, 796, 122 S.Ct. 1817, 152 L.Ed.2d 996 (2002); Weakley v. Bowen, 803 F.2d 575, 580 (10th Cir.1986). 10 In addition to providing for fees for work before the court, the SSA also provides for fees for work done at the administrative level. The statute deals with the administrative and judicial review stages discretely: § 406(a) governs fees for representation in administrative proceedings; § 406(b) controls fees for representation in court. Gisbrecht, 535 U.S. at 794, 122 S.Ct. 1817. Under the SSA scheme, each authority sets fees for the work done before it; thus, the court does not make fee awards for work at the agency level, and the Commissioner does not make fee awards for work done before the court. See 20 C.F.R. §§ 404.1720, 404.1728; Harris v. Sec'y of Health & Human Servs., 836 F.2d 496, 497 (10th Cir.1987), abrogated on other grounds by Frazier, 240 F.3d at 1286. The agency's and the court's determinations on SSA fees bind counsel: [t]he prescriptions set out in §§ 406(a) and (b) establish the exclusive regime for obtaining fees for successful representation of Social Security benefits claimants. Collecting or even demanding from the client anything more than the authorized allocation of past-due benefits is a criminal offense. Gisbrecht, 535 U.S. at 795-96, 122 S.Ct. 1817; see also 42 U.S.C. § 406(b)(2). 11 With regard to work before the courts, § 406(b) does not displace contingent-fee agreements as the primary means by which fees are set for successfully representing Social Security benefits claimants in court. Rather, § 406(b) calls for court review of such arrangements as an independent check, to assure that they yield reasonable results in particular cases. Gisbrecht, 535 U.S. at 807, 122 S.Ct. 1817. One of the primary benefits of § 406 and its accompanying regulation, from counsel's perspective, is that they authorize the Commissioner to deduct the approved fees from the claimant's past-due benefits and pay them directly to counsel. 42 U.S.C. § 406(b)(1)(A); 20 C.F.R. § 404.1730.