(SS) Burns v. Commissioner of Social Security

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 JAMES BURNS, Case No. 2:20-cv-1182-JDP Plaintiff, v. ORDER MARTIN O’MALLEY, Commissioner of Social Security, 15 Defendant. 16 Plaintiff’s counsel seeks an award of attorney fees under 42 U.S.C. § 406(b). ECF No. 28. Plaintiff entered into a contingent fee agreement that provided that he would pay counsel twenty- five percent of any award of past-due benefits. ECF No. 28-3 at 1. After this court remanded for further proceedings, plaintiff was found disabled and awarded past-due benefits. ECF Nos. 24 & 28-2 at 1. The Social Security Administration withheld $31,691.75, which was twenty-five percent of plaintiff’s past due benefits, to pay his attorney. Id. Plaintiff’s counsel requests $16,000.00, which is the statutory maximum, and which would work out to an hourly rate of $388.25. An attorney is entitled to reasonable fees for successfully representing social security claimants in district court. Whenever a…