Opinion
No. 07-1395 SC.
May 26, 2009
ORDER GRANTING PLAINTIFF'S APPLICATION FOR ATTORNEY FEES
I. INTRODUCTION
Now before the Court is Plaintiff Suzie Steen's ("Plaintiff") application for attorney fees, and the accompanying memorandum in support ("Memorandum"). Docket Nos. 26, 27. Defendant Michael J. Astrue ("Defendant") has filed an Opposition, and Plaintiff filed a Reply. Docket Nos. 28, 29. Having considered the papers filed by both parties, the Court GRANTS Plaintiff's application.
II. BACKGROUND
Plaintiff brought this case before the Court seeking review and reversal of the Social Security Commissioner's final decision denying her claim for Social Security Disability Insurance benefits. See Compl., Docket No. 1. On September 29, 2008, this Court granted Plaintiff's motion for summary judgment, denied Defendant's cross motion for summary judgment, and reversed the final decision of the Commissioner. Docket No. 24. The underlying facts are described in detail in that Order. Plaintiff now seeks attorney fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act ("EAJA"), 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d). The EAJA caps hourly rates at $125.00, and Plaintiff seeks rates of $166.46, which permissibly incorporates a cost of living increase at 2007 levels. See Mem. at 6; 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d)(2)(A). Plaintiff seeks $11,535.67 for a total of 69.3 hours of attorney time. Mem. at 6. Defendant does not oppose the hourly rates that the Plaintiff seeks, but claims that the amount of hours are unreasonable. Opp'n at 2.
Plaintiff is willing to use this figure for time billed in both 2007 and 2008. Mem. at 6.
At various places in her application, Plaintiff requests $12,118.28. See Application at 1; Mem. at 6. She does not justify this higher figure, and all of her calculations appear to be directed towards the $11,535.67 figure. See id. The Court assumes that the higher figure was stated in error. In addition, Plaintiff has waived fees for time spent preparing the Reply. Reply at 6.
III. LEGAL STANDARD
IV. DISCUSSION
28 U.S.C. § 2412See Gates v. Deukmejian987 F.2d 13921397Hensley v. Eckerhart461 U.S. 424433-34 Id. Id.
Having reviewed a number of decisions addressing similar objections, the Court concludes that the amount of time that Plaintiff's attorney spent on the summary judgment motion is not unreasonable. While Defendant cites numerous cases that are much closer to the thirty-hour range that Defendant seeks to use as a benchmark, see id. at 3, the Court is mindful of the size of the record here (326 pages, see Reply at 3), the level of familiarity with the record exhibited by Plaintiff's attorney in the briefings, and the complete success achieved by Plaintiff's attorney. The fifty-eight hours spent on the motion for summary judgment is certainly towards the higher end of the spectrum, compared to other cases that the Court has reviewed. See, e.g.,Laosouvanh v. Astrue, 140 Soc. Sec. Rep. Service 284 (E.D. Cal. 2009) (finding "the claimed 43 hours of attorney time devoted to the preparation of the complaint and the briefing on the summary judgment motion to be a completely reasonable amount of attorney time to have expended."). However, this amount of time is by no means unprecedented. See, e.g., Sanfilippo v. Astrue, 140 Soc. Sec. Rep. Service 46 (S.D. Cal. 2009) (awarding fees for 72.15 hours of work); Nayab v. Astrue, 136 Soc. Sec. Rep. Service 305 (S.D. Cal. 2008) (awarding fees for seventy-three hours of work). The Court finds the request for this time to be reasonable.
Defendant's second objection is to the 7.25 hours that Plaintiff's attorneys billed to complete the EAJA Application (i.e., the request for fees now at issue). Opp'n at 4. A Plaintiff is entitled to fees for time spent litigating the issue of attorney fees. Love v. Reilly, 924 F.2d 1492, 1497 (9th Cir. 1991). Defendant claims that the application merely requires a showing that the plaintiff prevailed, is eligible to recover a fee award, and an itemized statement of time and expenses. Opp'n at 4. Defendant contends that this could have been completed in two hours. Id. The Application was filed with a six-page memorandum that includes legal arguments anticipating objections that Defendant could have raised to the fee application. See Mem. Although Defendant has not raised those arguments, Plaintiff's attorneys cannot be faulted for anticipating and fully briefing issues that could have plausibly been raised by Defendant. The Court concludes that an attorney could reasonably have spent 7.25 hours researching and drafting the memorandum. The Court therefore declines to reduce the amount of this fee request.
V. CONCLUSION
For the reasons stated above, the Court GRANTS Plaintiff's application for attorney fees, and AWARDS Plaintiff $11,535.67 in attorneys fees.
IT IS SO ORDERED.