1 WO 2 3 4 5 6 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA
9 Justus Hayward Dean Ferrell, No. CV-25-00350-TUC-RM (JEM)
10 Plaintiff, ORDER
11 v.
12 Commissioner of Social Security Administration, 13 Defendant. 14 15 Pending before the Court are Plaintiff’s Motion for Attorney’s Fees under the Equal 16 Access to Justice Act (“EAJA”) (Doc. 18) and Motion to Withdraw as Attorney (Doc. 20). 17 For the reasons set forth below, the Motion for Attorney’s Fees is denied and the Motion 18 to Withdraw as Attorney is granted. 19 I. Background 20 On August 26, 2025, the parties jointly moved to remand this matter for further 21 administrative proceedings pursuant to sentence four of 42 U.S.C. § 405(g). (Doc. 14.) On 22 August 27, 2025, the Court granted the Stipulated Motion for Remand, and the Clerk of 23 Court entered final judgment in favor of Plaintiff, and against Defendant, reversing the 24 decision of the Commissioner of Social Security. (Docs. 15, 16.) On November 25, 2025, 25 Plaintiff timely filed the pending Motion for Attorney’s Fees, seeking an award of $573.31 26 under the EAJA. (Doc. 18.) 27 Plaintiff’s attorney of record in this action is Maren Miller Bam. On August 14, 28 2025, in a different Social Security appeal in this district, Magistrate Judge Alison Bachus 1 revoked Ms. Bam’s pro hac vice status for filing an opening brief containing citation 2 deficiencies consistent with generative artificial intelligence, including hallucinated cases 3 (“Sanctions Order”). Mavy v. Comm'r of Soc. Sec. Admin., No. CV-25-00689-PHX-KML 4 (ASB), 2025 WL 2355222, at *12–13 (D. Ariz. Aug. 14, 2025), vacated in part, 2026 WL 5 91483 (D. Ariz. Jan. 13, 2026) (affirming pro hac vice revocation). Following the Sanctions 6 Order, District Judge Susan Bolton ordered Ms. Bam to show cause as to why five pending 7 pro hac vice applications, including an application in the above-captioned matter, should 8 be approved (“Order to Show Cause”). (Doc. 20-7.) In response, Ms. Bam requested a 30- 9 day period to voluntarily withdraw from her pending pro hac vice applications and active 10 cases in this district. (Doc. 20-8.) Judge Bolton granted the request and barred Ms. Bam 11 from applying for pro hac vice admission in this district for one year. (Doc. 20-1.) 12 II. Analysis 13 A. Attorney’s Fees1 14 A litigant is entitled to attorney’s fees under the EAJA if: (1) he is the prevailing 15 party; (2) the government’s position was not substantially justified; (3) special 16 circumstances do not make an award unjust; and (4) the fees requested are reasonable. 17 Carbonell v. I.N.S., 429 F.3d 894, 898 (9th Cir. 2005); 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d)(1)(A). Here, 18 Plaintiff is the prevailing party, the government has failed to show that its position was 19 substantially justified, and the requested fees are reasonable. However, special 20 circumstances make an award of attorney’s fees unjust because Ms. Bam was unauthorized 21 to practice law in this case. 22 “An attorney who is admitted to practice in another U.S. District Court, and who 23 has been retained to appear in [the District of Arizona] may, upon written application and 24 in the discretion of the Court, be permitted to appear and participate in a particular case.” 25 LRCiv 83.1(b)(2). An attorney applying to appear pro hac vice in a particular case must 26 state under penalty of perjury “that the attorney is not currently . . . subject to disciplinary
27 1 Defendant did not respond to Plaintiff’s Motion for Attorney’s Fees, and the deadline for doing so has expired. Although a failure to respond may be deemed as consent to the 28 granting of a motion, see LRCiv 7.2(i), the Court in its discretion will consider the Motion for Attorney’s Fees on its merits. 1 proceedings in any court.” Id. 2 The Ninth Circuit has held that when out-of-state counsel does not “properly and 3 timely secure pro hac vice admission before the district court” in accordance with the 4 district court’s local rules, that failure is “sufficient reason to deny [an] application for 5 attorneys’ fees.” Idaho Sporting Congress, Inc. v. Alexander, 23 F. App’x 713, 714 (9th 6 Cir. 2001); accord Priestley v. Astrue, 651 F.3d 410, 418 (4th Cir. 2011) (explaining that 7 “it may be unjust to compensate individuals who, without proper licensure, directly 8 represent clients and, on their behalf, file papers and appear before the court”). Fees for an 9 attorney not admitted to practice in this district may be recovered: (1) if the attorney “would 10 have certainly been permitted to appear pro hac vice as a matter of course had he or she 11 applied,” or (2) if the work of the attorney “did not rise to the level of ‘appearing’ before 12 the district court.” Winterrowd v. Am. Gen. Annuity Ins. Co., 556 F.3d 815, 822–23 (9th 13 Cir. 2009). Here, neither circumstance is present. 14 First, Ms. Bam’s conduct in this case clearly rises to the level of “appearing” before 15 the Court. Ms. Bam was Plaintiff’s sole attorney of record in this case, she signed all filings 16 on Plaintiff’s behalf, and she negotiated a stipulated remand with opposing counsel. See id. 17 at 823–24 (an attorney “appears” by physically coming into court, signing briefs, 18 communicating with opposing counsel as an attorney of record, and rendering legal 19 services directly to the plaintiff); McDonough v. Bidwill, No. CV-24-00764-PHX-DWL, 20 2025 U.S. Dist LEXIS 103881, 2025 WL 1556974, at *5 (D. Ariz. June 2, 2025) (“Signing 21 briefs and identifying oneself as counsel during discussions with opposing counsel are 22 ‘appearances’ that squarely fall into the category of practicing law.”). 23 Second, following the Sanctions Order issued in Mavy, the Clerk’s Office would 24 not grant Ms. Bam’s pro hac vice application as a matter of course, and Ms. Bam could not 25 reasonably have believed otherwise. Ms. Bam contends the processing of her pro hac vice 26 application fee indicated her application was approved, and that the Court permitted her 27 “to participate fully as counsel of record, filing documents, responding to orders, and 28 managing the case[,]” which she argues is consistent with “administrative approval” of her 1 pro hac vice application or “the Court’s authority under LRCiv 83.1(e) to ‘specially 2 authorize’ practice pending formal admission.”2 (Doc. 20 at 2–3.) But the Local Rules of 3 Civil Procedure make clear that the processing of a pro hac vice application fee does not 4 constitute approval of the application. See LRCiv 83.1(b)(2) (noting that “the Court may 5 refund any or all of the fee paid by” an attorney if the attorney’s pro hac vice application 6 is denied). Ms. Bam’s pro hac vice application was never approved,3 as was made clear in 7 Judge Bolton’s Order to Show Cause, and this Court never issued an order specially 8 authorizing Ms. Bam to appear during the pendency of the application. 9 The Court is troubled that Ms. Bam filed her Stipulated Motion for Remand without 10 providing any indication that her pro hac vice application remained pending. It is even 11 more troubling that Ms. Bam filed the pending Motion for Attorney’s Fees after agreeing 12 to withdraw her pro hac vice application in lieu of the application being denied—and that 13 Ms. Bam failed to disclose in the Motion either the Sanctions Order or the Order to Show 14 Cause. 15 Given Ms.
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1 WO 2 3 4 5 6 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA
9 Justus Hayward Dean Ferrell, No. CV-25-00350-TUC-RM (JEM)
10 Plaintiff, ORDER
11 v.
12 Commissioner of Social Security Administration, 13 Defendant. 14 15 Pending before the Court are Plaintiff’s Motion for Attorney’s Fees under the Equal 16 Access to Justice Act (“EAJA”) (Doc. 18) and Motion to Withdraw as Attorney (Doc. 20). 17 For the reasons set forth below, the Motion for Attorney’s Fees is denied and the Motion 18 to Withdraw as Attorney is granted. 19 I. Background 20 On August 26, 2025, the parties jointly moved to remand this matter for further 21 administrative proceedings pursuant to sentence four of 42 U.S.C. § 405(g). (Doc. 14.) On 22 August 27, 2025, the Court granted the Stipulated Motion for Remand, and the Clerk of 23 Court entered final judgment in favor of Plaintiff, and against Defendant, reversing the 24 decision of the Commissioner of Social Security. (Docs. 15, 16.) On November 25, 2025, 25 Plaintiff timely filed the pending Motion for Attorney’s Fees, seeking an award of $573.31 26 under the EAJA. (Doc. 18.) 27 Plaintiff’s attorney of record in this action is Maren Miller Bam. On August 14, 28 2025, in a different Social Security appeal in this district, Magistrate Judge Alison Bachus 1 revoked Ms. Bam’s pro hac vice status for filing an opening brief containing citation 2 deficiencies consistent with generative artificial intelligence, including hallucinated cases 3 (“Sanctions Order”). Mavy v. Comm'r of Soc. Sec. Admin., No. CV-25-00689-PHX-KML 4 (ASB), 2025 WL 2355222, at *12–13 (D. Ariz. Aug. 14, 2025), vacated in part, 2026 WL 5 91483 (D. Ariz. Jan. 13, 2026) (affirming pro hac vice revocation). Following the Sanctions 6 Order, District Judge Susan Bolton ordered Ms. Bam to show cause as to why five pending 7 pro hac vice applications, including an application in the above-captioned matter, should 8 be approved (“Order to Show Cause”). (Doc. 20-7.) In response, Ms. Bam requested a 30- 9 day period to voluntarily withdraw from her pending pro hac vice applications and active 10 cases in this district. (Doc. 20-8.) Judge Bolton granted the request and barred Ms. Bam 11 from applying for pro hac vice admission in this district for one year. (Doc. 20-1.) 12 II. Analysis 13 A. Attorney’s Fees1 14 A litigant is entitled to attorney’s fees under the EAJA if: (1) he is the prevailing 15 party; (2) the government’s position was not substantially justified; (3) special 16 circumstances do not make an award unjust; and (4) the fees requested are reasonable. 17 Carbonell v. I.N.S., 429 F.3d 894, 898 (9th Cir. 2005); 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d)(1)(A). Here, 18 Plaintiff is the prevailing party, the government has failed to show that its position was 19 substantially justified, and the requested fees are reasonable. However, special 20 circumstances make an award of attorney’s fees unjust because Ms. Bam was unauthorized 21 to practice law in this case. 22 “An attorney who is admitted to practice in another U.S. District Court, and who 23 has been retained to appear in [the District of Arizona] may, upon written application and 24 in the discretion of the Court, be permitted to appear and participate in a particular case.” 25 LRCiv 83.1(b)(2). An attorney applying to appear pro hac vice in a particular case must 26 state under penalty of perjury “that the attorney is not currently . . . subject to disciplinary
27 1 Defendant did not respond to Plaintiff’s Motion for Attorney’s Fees, and the deadline for doing so has expired. Although a failure to respond may be deemed as consent to the 28 granting of a motion, see LRCiv 7.2(i), the Court in its discretion will consider the Motion for Attorney’s Fees on its merits. 1 proceedings in any court.” Id. 2 The Ninth Circuit has held that when out-of-state counsel does not “properly and 3 timely secure pro hac vice admission before the district court” in accordance with the 4 district court’s local rules, that failure is “sufficient reason to deny [an] application for 5 attorneys’ fees.” Idaho Sporting Congress, Inc. v. Alexander, 23 F. App’x 713, 714 (9th 6 Cir. 2001); accord Priestley v. Astrue, 651 F.3d 410, 418 (4th Cir. 2011) (explaining that 7 “it may be unjust to compensate individuals who, without proper licensure, directly 8 represent clients and, on their behalf, file papers and appear before the court”). Fees for an 9 attorney not admitted to practice in this district may be recovered: (1) if the attorney “would 10 have certainly been permitted to appear pro hac vice as a matter of course had he or she 11 applied,” or (2) if the work of the attorney “did not rise to the level of ‘appearing’ before 12 the district court.” Winterrowd v. Am. Gen. Annuity Ins. Co., 556 F.3d 815, 822–23 (9th 13 Cir. 2009). Here, neither circumstance is present. 14 First, Ms. Bam’s conduct in this case clearly rises to the level of “appearing” before 15 the Court. Ms. Bam was Plaintiff’s sole attorney of record in this case, she signed all filings 16 on Plaintiff’s behalf, and she negotiated a stipulated remand with opposing counsel. See id. 17 at 823–24 (an attorney “appears” by physically coming into court, signing briefs, 18 communicating with opposing counsel as an attorney of record, and rendering legal 19 services directly to the plaintiff); McDonough v. Bidwill, No. CV-24-00764-PHX-DWL, 20 2025 U.S. Dist LEXIS 103881, 2025 WL 1556974, at *5 (D. Ariz. June 2, 2025) (“Signing 21 briefs and identifying oneself as counsel during discussions with opposing counsel are 22 ‘appearances’ that squarely fall into the category of practicing law.”). 23 Second, following the Sanctions Order issued in Mavy, the Clerk’s Office would 24 not grant Ms. Bam’s pro hac vice application as a matter of course, and Ms. Bam could not 25 reasonably have believed otherwise. Ms. Bam contends the processing of her pro hac vice 26 application fee indicated her application was approved, and that the Court permitted her 27 “to participate fully as counsel of record, filing documents, responding to orders, and 28 managing the case[,]” which she argues is consistent with “administrative approval” of her 1 pro hac vice application or “the Court’s authority under LRCiv 83.1(e) to ‘specially 2 authorize’ practice pending formal admission.”2 (Doc. 20 at 2–3.) But the Local Rules of 3 Civil Procedure make clear that the processing of a pro hac vice application fee does not 4 constitute approval of the application. See LRCiv 83.1(b)(2) (noting that “the Court may 5 refund any or all of the fee paid by” an attorney if the attorney’s pro hac vice application 6 is denied). Ms. Bam’s pro hac vice application was never approved,3 as was made clear in 7 Judge Bolton’s Order to Show Cause, and this Court never issued an order specially 8 authorizing Ms. Bam to appear during the pendency of the application. 9 The Court is troubled that Ms. Bam filed her Stipulated Motion for Remand without 10 providing any indication that her pro hac vice application remained pending. It is even 11 more troubling that Ms. Bam filed the pending Motion for Attorney’s Fees after agreeing 12 to withdraw her pro hac vice application in lieu of the application being denied—and that 13 Ms. Bam failed to disclose in the Motion either the Sanctions Order or the Order to Show 14 Cause. 15 Given Ms. Bam’s unauthorized practice of law in this matter, special circumstances 16 make an award of attorney’s fees under the EAJA unjust, and Plaintiff’s Motion for 17 Attorney’s Fees is accordingly denied. 18 B. Motion to Withdraw as Attorney 19 Having reviewed the Motion to Withdraw as Attorney and finding that it sufficiently 20 complies with LRCiv 83.3(b), the Court will grant the Motion and withdraw Ms. Bam as 21 attorney of record for Plaintiff. 22 Accordingly, 23 2 LRCiv 83.1(e) provides: “An attorney who, before admission or permission to practice 24 pro hac vice has been granted, unless specially authorized by one of the judges, or during disbarment or suspension exercises any of the privileges of a member of this bar, or who 25 pretends to be entitled to do so, is subject to appropriate sanctions after notice and opportunity to be heard.” 26 3 The Court notes that the Clerk’s Office sends e-notices to counsel when pro hac vice applications are granted, and Ms. Bam does not contend she received any such notice. See 27 Instructions for Gaining Pro Hac Vice Admission to Practice Before the United States District Court for the District of Arizona, 28 https://www.azd.uscourts.gov/sites/azd/files/forms/PHVInstructions.pdf (last accessed Feb. 3, 2026). 1 IT IS ORDERED that Plaintiff's Motion to Withdraw as Attorney (Doc. 20) is 2|| granted. Attorney Maren Miller Bam is hereby withdrawn as attorney of record for || Plaintiff Justus Hayward Dean Ferrell. The Clerk of Court is directed to update the docket accordingly. 5 IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Plaintiff's Motion for Attorney’s Fees under 6 || the EAJA (Doc. 18) is denied. 7 Dated this 6th day of February, 2026. 8 9 10 — Ay U □ □ □ Honorable Rosthiary □□□□□□□ 12 United States District □□□□□ 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28
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