Pirus v. Bowen
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
869 F.2d 536 (1989)
Sidell Pirus (plaintiff) won a class action against the Department of Health and Human Services (defendant) over improperly denied social security benefits, and the district court awarded attorney's fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA) exceeding the statute's default $75-per-hour cap, finding that special factors — the attorneys' specialized expertise in the complex Social Security Act provisions at issue — justified the enhancement. The Department challenged that fee enhancement on appeal.
Whether a prevailing party may recover attorney's fees under the EAJA in excess of the statutory hourly cap where the case's complexity required an attorney with specialized skills unavailable at the capped rate.