(SS) Morgan v. Commissioner of Social Security

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 CASEY MORGAN, No. 2:20-cv-00252 EFB (SS) 12 Plaintiff, 13 v. ORDER 14 KILOLO KIJAKAZI, Acting Commissioner of Social Security, 15 Defendant. 16 17 Pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 406(b), counsel for plaintiff in the above-entitled action seeks an 18 award of attorney fees in the amount of $7,173.00. ECF No. 19. Defendant has filed a response. 19 ECF No. 20. 20 Plaintiff was awarded past due benefits, and he previously entered into a retainer 21 agreement with his attorney which provided that he would pay counsel 25 percent of any past-due 22 benefits won as a result of the appeal in this case. ECF No. 19-2. The amount requested is less 23 than 25% of the past due benefits awarded to plaintiff. See ECF Nos. 19-3 & 19-4 (plaintiff was 24 awarded a total of $35,387.36 from which the Social Security Administration withheld $8,846.84 25 for attorney fees). Plaintiff’s attorney spent 22.6 hours litigating the case. ECF 19-5 at 4. 26 42 U.S.C. § 406(b)(1)(A) provides,…