(SS) Bridges v. Commissioner of Social Security

I. INTRODUCTION

16 On March 9, 2021, Jonathan O. Pena, Esq. (“Counsel”), counsel for Plaintiff James Marvin Bridges (“Plaintiff”), filed a motion for an award of attorney’s fees pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 406(b) (“section 406(b)”). (Doc. 24.) On March 10, 2021, 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 April 6, 2021. (Doc. 27.) Plaintiff and the Commissioner were served with copies of the motion for attorney’s fees and the minute order. (Docs. 24, 28.) On April 6, 2021, the Commissioner filed a response, acknowledging he was not a party to the contingent-fee agreement between Plaintiff and Counsel, and therefore “not in a position to 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 in this action. See 42 U.S.C. § 405(g) (referring to the “Commissioner’s Answer”);…