FILED
NOT FOR PUBLICATION JAN 26 2012
MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS U .S. C O U R T OF APPE ALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
MARK OERDING, No. 10-35939
Plaintiff - Appellant, D.C. No. 3:08-cv-00633-PK
v.
MEMORANDUM *
COMMISSIONER OF SOCIAL
SECURITY ADMINISTRATION,
Defendant - Appellee.
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the District of Oregon
Ancer L. Haggerty, District Judge, Presiding
Submitted January 17, 2012 **
Before: LEAVY, TALLMAN, and CALLAHAN, Circuit Judges.
Tim Wilborn, the attorney of record for Mark Oerding and the real-party-in-
interest, appeals from the district court’s judgment granting in part his motion for
*
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by 9th Cir. R. 36-3.
**
The panel unanimously concludes this case is suitable for decision
without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2).
attorney’s fees under 42 U.S.C. § 406(b) based on a contingent-fee agreement with
Oerding. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291. We review for an abuse of
discretion, Crawford v. Astrue, 586 F.3d 1142, 1147 (9th Cir. 2009) (en banc), and
we affirm.
The district court did not abuse its discretion by reducing the fees from the
amount specified in the fee agreement based on the court’s assessment of what was
reasonable given the risk and complexity involved in this case. See Gisbrecht v.
Barnhart, 535 U.S. 789, 808 (2002) (stating that “[i]f the benefits are large in
comparison to the amount of time counsel spent on the case, a downward
adjustment is . . . in order”); Crawford, 586 F.3d at 1152-53 (explaining that courts
should assess the complexity and risk involved in the specific case at issue, rather
than social security cases in general, when analyzing the reasonableness of the
requested fees); see also Clark v. Astrue, 529 F.3d 1211, 1214 (9th Cir. 2008)
(“The district court abuses its discretion if it does not apply the correct legal
standard or rests its decision on a clearly erroneous finding of fact.”).
AFFIRMED.
2 10-35939