Dear SkyKing,

Did this (the third) attorney represent you in Federal Court where you were remanded back to your final ALJ hearing?

The $6000 cap will carry a claimant from initial application, through a first ALJ hearing. After that, the cap is gone if I remember correctly.

Also, am I understanding correctly that you had a fee agreement signed by you and approved by SSA with THIS attorney number 3 that specified the $6000 limit?

From what point did #3 take your case?

Fee agreements beyond the initial ALJ hearing are usually very different than the standard fee agreement.

If this attorney represented you in Federal court, I am sorry to tell you that he could very likely be awarded more than the $6000 cap even if you feel it unjustified. It is not a matter of just who obtained your records. His justification would be his representation before a Federal judge. Obtaining your medical records is something that is often done by SSA at the time of your original application and not a means of justifying an excess fee by an attorney from SSA. So that is NOT the issue at hand. It does not matter if the attorney was not the one that obtained your records or not. It is for his legal services appearing in Federal court that would be justification.

My comments are based solely on the information you present in this post. Many details of which attorney and when are not indicated so my response may not be valid if all the facts of what services attorney # 3 provided are not indicated.

Sorry I can not give you better news.