Moriarty v. Colvin

LYNCH, Circuit Judge.

As an incentive to attorneys to bring Supplemental Security Income (SSI) claims, the Commissioner of the Social Security Administration (SSA), for more than a decade, has paid directly to qualified attorneys a fee of no more than twenty-five percent of the successful recovery of past-due benefits to clients. See 42 U.S.C. § 1383(d)(2)(B). When the federal government administers state supplementary payments for the state, that amount of state payments is included in “past-due benefits.” See 20 C.F.R. § 416.1503. But when the state chooses to administer its own payments,…