Squires v. Commissioner of Social Security

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT MIDDLE DISTRICT OF FLORIDA ORLANDO DIVISION

JESSICA LEIGH SQUIRES,

Plaintiff, Case No. 6:23-cv-233-KCD

v.

COMMISSIONER OF SOCIAL SECURITY,

Defendant. /

ORDER Having obtained an award of benefits, Jessica Leigh Squires’ attorneys, Richard Culbertson and Sarah Patience Jacobs, seek attorney’s fees under 42 U.S.C. § 406(b). (Doc. 33.) Defendant neither supports nor opposes the motion. (Id. at 3.) Section 406(b) provides that an attorney who obtains a benefits award on remand may petition for a reasonable fee—not to exceed twenty-five percent of the claimant’s past-due benefits—for work performed before the court. Here, the attorneys request $3,966, which is 25 percent of past-due benefits, less the previous EAJA award of $4,537.65 and a further reduction so that the award is consistent with the amount still being withheld by the Social Security Administration. (Doc. 33 at 2; Doc. 33-2 at 4; Doc. 32); see Paltan v. Comm’r of Soc. Sec., 519 F. App’x 673, 674 (11th Cir. 2013) (noting that the attorney has the option of either refunding a prior EAJA award to the plaintiff directly or reducing the § 406(b) award by the same amount). For the reasons stated in Squires’ motion, the requested fee 1s both reasonable and appropriate under § 406(b). Accordingly, the fee motion (Doc. 33) is GRANTED. The clerk will enter judgment for Squires for $3,966 in attorney’s fees under 42 U.S.C. § 406(b). ORDERED in Fort Myers, Florida on August 27, 2025.

= fr ee —_— Lyte A aslo” * Kale C. Dudek United States Magistrate Judge