(SS) Johnson v. Commissioner of Social Security
Opinion
Trial Court Opinion
I. INTRODUCTION
16 On September 23, 2020, Jonathan Omar Pena (“Counsel”), counsel for Plaintiff Donna Johnson (“Plaintiff”), filed a motion for an award of attorney’s fees pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 406(b) (“section 406(b)”). (Doc. 21.) On September 24, 2020, the Court issued a minute order requiring Plaintiff and the Commissioner to file their responses in opposition or statements of non- opposition to Counsel’s motion, if any, by no later than October 16, 2020. (Doc. 22.) Plaintiff and the Commissioner were served with copies of the motion for attorney’s fees and the minute order. (Docs. 21, 23.) On October 16, 2020, the Commissioner timely filed a response, acknowledging that he was not a party to the contingent-fee agreement between Plaintiff and Counsel and therefore “not in a position to either assent or object to the § 406(b) fees that Counsel 26 On June 17, 2019, Andrew Saul became the Commissioner of the Social Security Administration. See https://www.ssa.gov/agency/commissioner.html (last visited by the court on August 26, 2019). He is therefore substituted as the defendant…