William F. Ray v. John W. Gardner, Sec'y of Health, Educ. & Welfare, William F. Ray v. John W. Gardner, Sec'y of Health, Educ. & Welfare, 387 F.2d 162 (4th Cir. 1967). · Go Syfert
William F. Ray v. John W. Gardner, Sec'y of Health, Educ. & Welfare, William F. Ray v. John W. Gardner, Sec'y of Health, Educ. & Welfare, 387 F.2d 162 (4th Cir. 1967). Cases Citing This Book View Copy Cite
23 citation events (2 in the last 25 years) across 13 distinct courts.
Strongest positive: Luke BROWN, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Louis W. SULLIVAN, M.D., Secretary of Health and Human Services, Defendant-Appellee (ca5, 1990-11-15)
Treatment trajectory · 1967 → 2026 · click a year to view as-of
1967 1996 2026
Top citers, strongest first. 12 distinct citers. How cited ↗
discussed Cited as authority (rule) Luke BROWN, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Louis W. SULLIVAN, M.D., Secretary of Health and Human Services, Defendant-Appellee
5th Cir. · 1990 · confidence medium
See Rohrich v. Bowen, 796 F.2d 1030, 1031 (8th Cir.1986); Ray v. Gardner, 387 F.2d 162, 165 (4th Cir.1967). 4 . 42 U.S.C. section 406 (a) provides in relevant part: Whenever the Secretary, in any claim before him for benefits under this title, makes a determination favorable to the claimant, he shall, if the claimant was represented by an attorney in connection with such claim, fix (in accordance with the regulations prescribed pursuant to the preceding sentence) a reasonable fee to compensate such attorney for the services performed by him in connection with such claim. 5 .
discussed Cited as authority (rule) Mabel L. O'Daniel v. Elliot L. Richardson, Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare
6th Cir. · 1972 · confidence medium
This language, in our opinion, does two things: it restricts the effect of the alternate insured-status requirements to those applications that are filed after January 1968 (thus precluding the possible contention by appellant that her 1968 application should be deemed a reopening of her 1964 application), see Ray v. Gardner, 387 F.2d 162, 164 (4th Cir. 1967), and Berard v. Finch, 307 F. Supp. 568, 570 (D.Mass.1969); and it limits the retroactive payment of benefits to February 1968 for those claimants who qualify for the receipt of benefits only by virtue of this liberalizing provision.
discussed Cited as authority (rule) Frank G. Fenix and Jessie P. Fenix v. Robert H. Finch, Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare (2×) also: Cited "see"
8th Cir. · 1971 · confidence medium
In Ray v. Gardner, 387 F.2d 162, 165 (4th Cir. 1967), Judge Haynsworth, speaking for the court, said: “When the first judicial litigation terminated in a remand of the proceedings to the Secretary for further administrative consideration, a favorable court judgment was entered within the meaning of 42 U.S.C.A. § 406 (b) (1), justifying a judicial award of a reasonable attorney’s fee if, subsequently, there was an administrative or judicial award of benefits.” Since the case was first reversed and remanded prior to the passage of the statute limiting the fee which the court could award, …
discussed Cited as authority (rule) Lathan H. Tuck v. Robert H. Finch, Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare
4th Cir. · 1970 · confidence medium
In Ray v. Gardner, 387 F.2d 162, 164 (4th Cir. 1967), sustaining a finding of the district court that a claim for disability benefits had not been filed, we pointed out that the records of the Social Security Administration contained no notation or record of the receipt or filing of the claim.
discussed Cited "see" Milam v. Barnhart
W.D. Va. · 2005 · signal: see · confidence high
See Ray v. Gardner, 387 F.2d 162 (4th Cir.1967) (vacating and remanding an award of attorney’s fees because the district court improperly considered the attorney’s time spent at the agency level.) However, the Fourth Circuit has recently held that a district court’s consideration of “the time spent and work performed by counsel on the case when it was pending at the agency level ... was appropriate insofar as it gave the district court a better understanding of the factors relevant to its reasonableness inquiry, such as the overall complexity of the case, the lawyering skills necessary…
cited Cited "see" Rodell HOUSTON, Sr., Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Louis W. SULLIVAN, M.D., Secretary of Health and Human Services, Defendant-Appellee
5th Cir. · 1990 · signal: see · confidence high
See Ray v. Gardner, 387 F.2d 162, 165 (4th Cir.1967); Perry v. Bowen, 711 F.Supp. 618, 619-20 (N.D.Ga.1988).
cited Cited "see" Schroeder Nursing Care, Inc. v. Mutual of Omaha Insurance
E.D. Wis. · 1970 · signal: see · confidence high
See, for example, Ray v. Gardner, 387 F.2d 162 (4th Cir.1967), and Watson v. Celebrezze, 246 F.Supp. 764 (E.D.Tenn. 1965), both involving claims for attorney’s fees.
cited Cited "see" Berard v. Finch
D. Mass. · 1969 · signal: see · confidence high
A retroactive award of benefits is limited to 12 months. 42 U.S.C. § 423 (b); see Ray v. Gardner, 1967, 4 Cir., 387 F.2d 162 .
cited Cited "see" Grier F. Moss v. John Gardner, Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare
4th Cir. · 1969 · signal: see · confidence high
See Ray v. Gardner, 387 F.2d 162, 164 (4 Cir. 1967).
cited Cited "see, e.g." Ott v. Chater
D. Kan. · 1996 · signal: see, e.g. · confidence medium
See, e.g., Ray v. Gardner, 387 F.2d 162,165 (4th Cir.1967); Vazquez v. Secretary of Health & Human Servs., 608 F.Supp. 346, 348 (D.P.R.1985).
cited Cited "see, e.g." Martha M. BURNETT, Appellee, v. Margaret HECKLER, Secretary of Health and Human Services, Appellant
8th Cir. · 1985 · signal: see, e.g. · confidence medium
See, e.g., Fenix v. Finch, 436 F.2d 831, 834-35 (8th Cir.1971), citing Ray v. Gardner, 387 F.2d 162, 165 (4th Cir.1967).
cited Cited "see, e.g." Cyrilla Murphy and George H. Murphy v. Harold L. Dyer
10th Cir. · 1969 · signal: see also · confidence low
See also Kay v. Gardner, 4 Cir., 1967, 387 F.2d 162 ; Sangster v. Gardner, 6 Cir., 1967, 374 F.2d 498 .
Retrieving the full opinion text from the archive…
William F. Ray
v.
John W. Gardner, Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, William F. Ray v. John W. Gardner, Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare
11419_1.
Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
Dec 8, 1967.
387 F.2d 162
Published

387 F.2d 162

William F. RAY, Appellant,
v.
John W. GARDNER, Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, Appellee.
William F. RAY, Appellee,
v.
John W. GARDNER, Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, Appellant.

No. 11358.

No. 11419.

United States Court of Appeals Fourth Circuit.

Argued November 9, 1967.

Decided December 8, 1967.

Franklin W. Kern, Charleston, W. Va., for appellant in No. 11,358 and appellee in No. 11,419.

William Kanter, Attorney, Department of Justice (Carl Eardley, Acting Asst. Atty. Gen., Morton Hollander, Attorney, Dept. of Justice, and Milton J. Ferguson, U. S. Atty., on brief), for appellee in No. 11,358 and appellant in No. 11,419.

Before HAYNSWORTH, Chief Judge, MARVIN JONES[*], Senior Judge, and BOREMAN, Circuit Judge.

HAYNSWORTH, Chief Judge.

[*~162]1

On cross appeals in this Social Security case we conclude that the claimant was awarded all that he was due, but we remand the case to the District Court for the redetermination of a reasonable fee for the lawyer.

2

In 1958, Ray, the claimant, filed an application for a period of disability pursuant to § 216(i) of the Social Security Act.[1] At that time Ray was less than fifty years old and the only benefit to which he was entitled was the elimination of the period of disability from his earnings record. The statute was amended in 1960 to permit persons under fifty years of age to receive monthly disability benefits,[2] but only upon an application for such benefits filed in or after the month in which the amendment was enacted.

3

At a hearing in December 1960 the claimant was informed of the amendment of the Act, and he testified that promptly thereafter he filed a claim for disability benefits. His testimony was corroborated in part by his wife who said that she collected certain papers for his use in that connection. The records of the Social Security Administration contain no indication of the filing of any such claim until September 1964.

4

Meanwhile, there was an administrative denial of the 1958 claim for a period of disability. The District Court affirmed the administrative determination, and Ray appealed to this Court. We remanded the case to the Secretary for further proceedings.[3]

5

On remand, the Secretary awarded the claimant a period of disability since 1960 and monthly disability benefits from September 1963, the latter award being based upon the 1964 application.[4] This was done on the basis of a finding that the claimant had filed no claim for disability benefits before the September 1964 claim.

6

We think the District Court properly accepted the administrative finding that no claim for disability benefits had been filed before the 1964 claim. The facts that no such claim was to be found in the records of the Social Security Administration and that there was no notation or record of the receipt or filing of any such claim, if not conclusive, furnish substantial evidence in support of the finding. The factfinder was not bound to accept the self-serving testimony of the claimant and his wife, otherwise unsubstantiated, to the contrary.

7

When there is substantial support in the record for the administrative finding, it must be accepted by the courts.[5]

[*~163]8

Nor can we construe the 1958 application for a period of disability as an application for disability benefits upon which an award could be made under the 1960 amendment, for, as we have noted, the 1960 amendment expressly limited the award of disability benefits under the amendment to applications filed in or after the month of the amendment's adoption.

9

We conclude, therefore, that the District Court properly accepted the administrative determination that disability benefits were payable only from September 1963.

10

When the first judicial litigation terminated in a remand of the proceedings to the Secretary for further administrative consideration, a favorable court judgment was entered within the meaning of 42 U.S.C.A. § 406(b) (1), justifying a judicial award of a reasonable attorney's fee if, subsequently, there was an administrative or judicial award of benefits.[6] In counsel's fee application in this case, however, he listed not only services in the District Court and this Court in the original proceedings; he listed also all services rendered in the administrative proceedings and in the District Court on his unsuccessful challenge of the limitation of accrued benefits to those due on and after September 1963. In making a general award of a fee, the District Court did not limit its consideration to the successful original judicial proceedings, but apparently considered the administrative proceedings and the claimant's unsuccessful judicial proceedings then before it. As we subsequently held in another case, the Court had no jurisdiction to make an award of a fee for services in the administrative proceedings, Robinson v. Gardner, 4 Cir., 374 F.2d 949, nor did it have any jurisdiction to award a fee for services rendered in the later unsuccessful attempt to collect benefits accrued prior to September 1963.

11

For that reason, the case will be remanded to the District Court with leave to counsel, if he be so advised, to apply to the Administrator for an allowance of a reasonable fee for services rendered in the administrative proceedings and to the District Court for a reasonable fee for services rendered in that Court and in this Court in the original proceedings on the application for a period of disability.

12

We express no opinion on the reasonableness of the fee actually allowed by the District Court.

[*~164]13

Affirmed in part; vacated and remanded in part.

Notes:

*

Sitting by designation

1

42 U.S.C.A. § 416(i)

2

Act of September 13, 1960, Pub.L. No. 86-778, § 401, 74 Stat. 924

3

Ray v. Celebrezze, 4 Cir., 340 F.2d 556

4

Under 42 U.S.C.A. § 423(b) an award of benefits may be made retroactive for only twelve months

5

42 U.S.C.A. § 405(g). See Thomas v. Celebrezze, 4 Cir., 331 F.2d 541, 543

6

Conner v. Gardner, 4 Cir., 381 F.2d 497