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Oerding v. Commissioner of Social Security Administration

Good Law
467 F. App'x 643
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth CircuitJanuary 26, 201210-35939California244 words

Opinion

Opinion

MEMORANDUM

Tim Wilborn, the attorney of record for Mark Oerding and the real-party-in-interest, appeals from the district court’s judgment granting in part his motion for attorney’s fees under 42 U.S.C. § 406 (b) based on a contingent-fee agreement with Oerding. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 . We review for an abuse of discretion, Crawford v. Astrue, 586 F.3d 1142, 1147 (9th Cir.2009) (en banc), and we affirm.

The district court did not abuse its discretion by reducing the fees from the amount specified in the fee agreement based on the court’s assessment of what was reasonable given the risk and complexity involved in this case. See Gisbrecht v. Barnhart, 535 U.S. 789, 808 , 122 S.Ct. 1817 , 152 L.Ed.2d 996 (2002) (stating that “[i]f the benefits are large in comparison to the amount of time counsel spent on the case, a downward adjustment is ... in order”); Cranford, 586 F.3d at 1152-53 (explaining that courts should assess the complexity and risk involved in the specific case at issue, rather than social security cases in general, when analyzing the reasonableness of the requested fees); see also Clark v. Astrue, 529 F.3d 1211, 1214 (9th Cir.2008) (“The district…

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