Moore v. Secretary of Health and Human Services, Civ. A. No. 84-0347.
| Decision Date | 06 June 1986 |
| Docket Number | Civ. A. No. 84-0347. |
| Citation | 651 F. Supp. 514 |
| Parties | Howard MOORE, Plaintiff, v. SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Western District of Michigan |
Jack A. Nolish, Southfield, Mich., for plaintiff.
Pamela A. Thompson, Asst. U.S. Atty., Detroit, Mich., for defendant.
This matter is before the Court upon counsel's objection to the Magistrate's April 1, 1986 order awarding attorney fees. Counsel contends that the imposition of Rule 11 sanctions in the amount of $3,700 is clearly erroneous and contrary to law.
Pursuant to section 206(b) of the Social Security Act, counsel requested attorney fees in the amount of $4,290.00 which represented 25 percent of plaintiff's past-due benefits. Counsel claimed that he spent 52.25 hours on the case. The Magistrate determined, however, that counsel overstated his hours and determined that 37 hours was a reasonable amount of time to spend on this matter and that $100.00 per hour was a reasonable fee. The Magistrate also found that many of the hours claimed were not well grounded in fact and imposed sanctions under Rule 11.
The Court will not overturn a Magistrate's order on a nondispositive motion unless the ruling is clearly erroneous or contrary to law. 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(A); Fed.R.Civ.P. 72(a). After a review of the administrative record, pleadings, petition for attorney fees and April 1, 1986 order, the Court concludes that the Magistrate correctly imposed Rule 11 sanctions, but erred regarding the amount of claimed hours which could be considered as reasonable and the hourly fee.
This is not the first time the Court has reviewed counsel's itemized documentation of hours spent on social security cases. Perkins v. Secretary of Health and Human Services, No. 84-4325 (E.D. Mich. Feb. 25, 1986); Hanna v. Secretary of Health and Human Services, No. 83-3289 (E.D.Mich. Mar. 11, 1986) Available on WESTLAW, DCTU database. The current petition contains the same faults. It is patently unreasonable to claim one-half hour for simple administrative tasks such as completing standard social security administration forms, preparing memos to file, or sending letters which request medical records, inform the client of a hearing, etc., or contain enclosures to the social security administration. It also should not take a competent attorney one-half hour to review standard administrative forms, letters accompanying medical records, a doctor's bill, a one-page letter from the Appeals Council, a standard stipulation and order for extension of time to file an answer, a standard answer, an administrative order or the social security notice. A quarter of an hour is more than enough time to complete those tasks. As the Court has pointed out before, it is unreasonable to claim 2.50 hours for the preparation and filing of counsel's standard social security complaint which is obviously on a word processor and merely entails filling in the blanks. This task should have taken less than one hour. The Court has reviewed the ALJ's decision and determined that it should have taken counsel less than one-half hour to fully digest the opinion and cross-reference it to the medical exhibits. Counsel's claimed one hour for reviewing the decision is unreasonable. The Court also doubts that it took counsel one-half hour to read a favorable five-page Report and Recommendation. A quarter of an hour is sufficient.
The Court concurs with the Magistrate's assessment of counsel's motion for summary judgment. Considering counsel's experience and the frequency upon which the issue of pain arises in this area, 21.00 hours to prepare the motion is unreasonable. The Court agrees that 10.50 hours to prepare and review the motion is reasonable. The figures have been adjusted. The Court finds the amount of hours claimed for the following items to be within reason: initial interview with client, review of file and conference with client, travel time to hearing, letter to Appeals Council, review of medical records, and review of Secretary's motion for summary judgment. Therefore, 29.25 hours for non-court activity and 1 hour for a court appearance are reasonable hours to spend on this case.
The Court does not concur with the Magistrate's assessment of a reasonable hour rate. During the Court's private practice in this area, it became familiar with the level of attorney fees charged by both plaintiff and defense attorneys. Even considering the contingent nature of social security cases, the market forces do not support an hourly rate of $100.00 for primarily administrative work. In fact, the attorney fees for court-appointed counsel in criminal cases has just been reduced by ten percent. In light of the Court's experience and the nature of the work, the Court concludes that $75.00 per hour for non-court activity and $100.00 an hour for court appearances are reasonable attorney fees. Counsel is therefore entitled to a reasonable attorney fee in the amount of $2,293.75.
Contrary to counsel's assertion, the Magistrate did not err by imposing Rule 11 sanctions. "Rule 11 was amended in 1983 `to reduce the reluctance of courts to impose sanctions .... by emphasizing the responsibilities of the attorney and reenforcing those obligations by the imposition of sanctions'." Albright v. The Upjohn Co., 788 F.2d 1217, 1221 (6th Cir.1986) (quoting the Advisory Committee Note, Fed.R.Civ.P. 11). As the Court has indicated to counsel in earlier opinions, it finds his petition for attorney fees to be appalling. The submission of an itemized documentation of hours which is patently unreasonable borders upon an abuse of process and a fraud upon the court. Some of the hours claimed were clearly not well grounded in fact. In light of the blatant over-statement of time spent on this matter, the Court finds the imposition of sanctions to be appropriate. The Magistrate's order awarding $3,700.00 in attorney fees is vacated. Counsel is awarded an attorney fee in the amount of $2,293.73. The imposition of $3,700.00 as Rule 11 sanctions is affirmed. An appropriate order will be entered.
On May 9, 1986 this Court entered...
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