Opinion
Case No. 6:17-cv-00231-AA
09-17-2018
WYLIE C., Plaintiff, v. COMMISSIONER OF SOCIAL SECURITY, Defendant.
OPINION AND ORDER
:
Plaintiff Wylie C. requests an award of attorney fees pursuant to the Equal Access to Justice Act ("EAJA"), 28 U.S.C. § 2412. The Court has reviewed the proceedings and the amount of fees sought and GRANTS plaintiff's Application for Fees Pursuant to EAJA (doc. 23) with the following modifications. Plaintiff requests and award of attorney fees in the amount of $4,841.03 for the 24.60 hours plaintiff's counsel spent working on the case. Plaintiff's request is based on the 2017 statutory hourly rate of $196.79. But plaintiff's counsel performed 7.1 hours of that work in the first half of 2018, when the statutory hourly rate increased to $200.78. Under the applicable hourly rates, plaintiff would be entitled to $3,443.83 for 17.5 hours of work performed by counsel in 2017 and $1,425.54 for 7.1 hours of work performed by counsel in 2018, for a total award of $4,869.36 in attorney fees. The Commissioner does not object to plaintiff's request for attorney fees, or to applying the 2018 rate for the hours of work performed by counsel in 2018. Def.'s Resp. to Appl. for Fees 2.
THEREFORE, attorney fees in the amount of $4,869.36 are awarded to plaintiff, pursuant to the EAJA, 28 U.S.C. § 2412. The award shall be made payable to plaintiff's attorney if the Commissioner confirms that plaintiff owes no debt to the government.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
Dated this 17 day of September 2018.
/s/_________
Ann Aiken
United States District Judge
In the interest of privacy, this opinion uses only the first name and the initial of the last name of the non-governmental party in this case. Where applicable, this opinion uses the same designation for a non-governmental party's immediate family member.