Parrish v. Commissioner of Social Security Administration

Tim Wilborn appeals the reduction of attorneys’ fees he earned while representing Sherry Parrish in a Social Security benefits claim. Because the Social Security Act (SSA) and the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA) both allow attorneys to receive fees for successful Social Security representations, Congress enacted a savings provision to prevent attorneys from receiving fees twice for the “same work” on behalf of a claimant. Pub.L. No. 99-80, § 3 , 99 Stat. 183 , 186 (1985) (adding “Savings Provision” to 28 U.S.C. § 2412 notes). This case requires us to determine whether Wilborn “receive[d] fees for the same work” under the EAJA and SSA for the two appeals he undertook for Parrish.

I

We begin with the relevant statutory background. In 1965, Congress added an attorneys’ fee provision to the SSA, 42 U.S.C. § 406 (b), in order “to protect claimants against ‘inordinately large fees’ and also to ensure that attorneys representing successful claimants would not risk ‘nonpayment of [appropriate] fees.’ ” Gisbrecht v. Barnhart, 535 U.S. 789, 805 , 122 S.Ct. 1817 , 152 L.Ed.2d 996 (2002) (quoting Department of Health and Human Services, Social Security Administration, Office of…