From a recent transmittal of Social Security's HALLEX Manual:
If the representative or claimant does not file a fee agreement before SSA makes a favorable decision on a claim with which the representative is involved, yet files a fee agreement before SSA makes another favorable decision in that claim, the decision maker will disapprove the fee agreement for the following reason:
The Social Security Administration did not receive the written agreement before making the first favorable decision that the representative worked toward achieving in this claim.
And what is the legal basis for this? Maybe there is some explanation that escapes me but this sounds like someone is trying to create a problem where none existed previously.
5 comments:
It looks like this would apply to cases in which a favorable decision was made but with "adverse onset". An appeal of the adverse decision would not give the attorney a "second bite at the apple" since he failed to timely file the fee agreement on the initial allowance. I don't know if that is right or wrong, but just my analysis.
Got it. But,it strikes me that unless there is some specific administrative deadline in the law or regulations for fee petitions, this rule could be subject to argument depending on the circumstances. For example, if there is an adverse onset determination, might that not require further work by the attorney, medical evidence, and so on? It's sure gonna make it hard to compute an accurate fee! It would be premature, wouldn't it, to file a fee petition under those circumstances, or so I think.
Ms. Ortiz:
It's just so easy to miss something on a quick reading. But actually, the HALLEX section that Mr. Hall has linked for us is about fee agreements, not fee petitions. These are two very, very different creatures.
Mr. Hall is some few years late with his particular concern about HALLEX I-1-2-14. What he has linked for us linked shows a revision only for a recent change in the maximum about for a fee agreement. The underlying policy about needing to submit a fee agreement prior to the favorable decision has been around quite a while. For example, POMS GN 03940.004 about this very same policy has a last-revised date of 3/05.
Then there is the question of the legal basis. There is at least a partial answer from Mr. Hall's own practice guide, quoted below. Please note Mr. Hall's last sentence:
The time to submit the fee agreement is before a decision is rendered. Some attorneys have considered the idea of submitting the contract only after receiving a favorable decision from the ALJ. The purpose of this is to avoid the danger of a $5,300 limit on attorney fees for work done in federal court by not submitting a contract until victory is assured. This will not work. The statute specifically requires that the contract be "presented in writing to the Secretary prior to the time of the Secretary's determination regarding the claim."[
Thanks. Got it.
just file your blinking fee papers on time
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