UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT MIDDLE DISTRICT OF FLORIDA FORT MYERS DIVISION

DEBORAH ANN HOWDESHELL,

Plaintiff,

v. Case No.: 2:20-cv-514-KCD

COMMISSIONER OF SOCIAL SECURITY,

Defendant. / ORDER Having obtained an award of benefits, Deborah Ann Howdeshell’s attorney, Bill Berke, requests attorney’s fees under

(b). (Doc. 28.) Defendant has no opposition. 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, Berke arrives at his requested fee of $19,799.49 as follows: $27,720.26 (the amount of attorney’s fees the SSA withheld [25 percent of past- due benefits]) minus $7,920.77 (the previously awarded EAJA fees). See Jackson v. Comm’r of Soc. Sec.,

(11th Cir. 2010) (“Although an attorney who receives fees under both the Equal Access to Justice Act and

(b) must refund the smaller fee to his client, the attorney may choose to effectuate the refund by deducting the amount of an earlier EAJA award from his subsequent

(b) fee request.”). For the reasons stated in Howdeshell’s unopposed motion, the requested fee is both reasonable and appropriate under § 406(b). Accordingly, the unopposed fee motion (Doc. 28) is GRANTED. The clerk will enter judgment for Howdeshell for $19,799.49 in attorney’s fees under

(b). Defendant is further directed to pay counsel the $19,799.49, while releasing the balance of withheld funds to the claimant. Ordered in Fort Myers, Florida on March 29, 2023.

QL Lua

‘ fe geal United States Magistrate Judge Copies: All Parties of Record