Villalpando

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA Case No.: 3:22-cv-0004-AGS MARIO V., ORDER GRANTING MOTION FOR 42 U.S.C. § 406(b) FEES (ECF 16) Plaintiff, v. Frank BISIGNANO, Defendants. 9 Under 42 U.S.C. § 406(b), plaintiff’s counsel seeks “$36,000.00” in attorney’s fees, offset by $1609.79 in EAJA fees. (ECF 16, at 5). This request represents about 17.58% of plaintiff’s past-due benefits, which total “$204,710.00.” (ECF 16, at 1.) Plaintiff has not objected, and the government does not oppose. (ECF 17, at 5.) “[W]hen a court ‘renders a judgment favorable to a claimant who was represented before the court by an attorney,’ the court may award a ‘reasonable fee for such representation, not in excess of 25 percent of the total of the past-due benefits . . . .’” Culbertson v. Berryhill, 586 U.S. 53, 59 (2019) (quoting 42 U.S.C. § 406(b)(1)(A)). Courts determining § 406(b) fee awards must respect “the primacy of lawful attorney-client fee…