Governmental efforts to defeat the Equal Access to
Justice Act (EAJA) for the disabled
One of the noble and just laws passed by our Congress and enacted into law
in 1948 as 28 United States Code 2412 was the
Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA). This act allowed a citizen to sue the federal
government and it further allowed the Court to pay the citizen's attorney if the
federal government was not substantially justified in its denial of the
citizen's constitutional rights after the citizen prevailed in the case. The EAJA is now under assault by federal officials in Social Security cases in an
effort to hamper attorneys from collection of these fees. Most importantly,
citizens are the victims of this federal effort if it is successful. The rule of
law is under attack.
An interesting history of EAJA is at
http://www.equalaccess2justice.us/
.
A superb discussion of this current effort during the summer of 2007 by
senior Social Security federal officials is found at
http://www.theombudsman.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=19 .
Federal officials who wish to do away with EAJA now are using the same "incrementalization"
tactics used in the "Contract on America" in 2002. The first efforts require
that the check for attorney fees be made payable to the plaintiff rather than
the attorney on the unexplained theory that the money is for the plaintiff to pay the
attorney. Previously for decades, the checks were made payable directly to the
citizen's attorney. Most plaintiffs will be honest with their attorneys, but these federal
officials will undermine the EAJA purpose by encouraging plaintiffs to keep the
money.
Attorneys fees are calculated by the cost of living index found on the Bureau
of Labor Statistics website. Currently, these regional fees are about $165 per
hour (this hourly fee must include the attorney's staff salaries, office costs,
supplies, etc.) are are much less than the federal government pays its own
contracted attorneys ($188.00 to $308.00). See:
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d01887r.pdf .
EAJA is one of the cornerstones of the rule of law giving access to
courthouse justice to citizens who cannot afford attorneys except by EAJA
attorney fees. Our traditional American justice is threatened by these changes in the payment of EAJA
attorney fees.
since October 14, 2007
If
you seek a single practitioner attorney dedicated to achieving
veterans
VA benefits and
Social Security disability benefits, I welcome your
contacting my office. All attorney fee contracts with clients are
contingent upon my winning past due awards and my attorney fees are
twenty percent for VA cases and
twenty-five percent for Social Security
cases - my fee contracts are posted on
this web site. My contracts comply with the United States Code and are
approved by the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Social Security
Administration. Although my office seems traditional, I use computer
technology to enhance my legal efforts with paperless record storage,
professional level voice recognition software and comprehensive legal
management computers. In this manner, I can offer competitive attorney
services and reduced overhead. I am honored to represent you towards
receiving rightful benefits if you are disabled.
Hugh Cox