Attorney's fees

Upon receipt of a certificate of program completion from the decision review office, fees for legal services provided by employees' attorneys and legal assistants working under the direction of employees' attorneys must be paid if an administrative order reducing or denying benefits is submitted to administrative hearing, district court, or supreme court and the employee prevails; or if a managed care decision is submitted to binding dispute resolution and the employee prevails subject to the following: 1. The organization shall pay attorneys at two hundred five dollars per hour for all actual and reasonable time other than travel time. The organization shall pay attorney travel time at one hundred three dollars per hour. 2. The organization may pay legal assistants and third-year law students or law school graduates who are not licensed attorneys who are practicing under the North Dakota senior practice rule acting under the supervision of employees' attorneys up to one hundred twenty-five dollars per hour for all actual and reasonable time other than travel time. The organization shall pay travel time at sixty-three dollars per hour. A "legal assistant" means a person with a bachelor's degree, associate's degree, or correspondence degree in a legal assistant or paralegal program from an accredited college or university or other accredited agency, or a legal assistant certified by the national association of legal assistants or the national federation of paralegal associations. The term also may include a person employed as a paralegal or legal assistant who has a bachelor's degree in any field and experience working as a paralegal or legal assistant. 3. Total fees paid by the organization for all legal services in connection with a dispute regarding an administrative order is an amount equal to twenty percent of the additional amount awarded except for an order litigating the initial determination of compensability. Awards include those arrived at by a mutually agreed upon settlement. Total fees paid under an administrative order may not exceed the following: a. Four thousand seven hundred four dollars, plus reasonable costs incurred, following issuance of an administrative order under North Dakota Century Code chapter 28-32 reducing or denying benefits, for services provided if a hearing request is resolved by settlement or amendment of the administrative order before the hearing is called to order. b. Seven thousand four hundred fifty-five dollars, plus reasonable costs incurred, if the hearing request is resolved by settlement or amendment of the administrative order after the hearing is called to order but before a written decision is issued by the administrative law judge; or the employee prevails after the hearing is called to order by the administrative law judge. c. Eight thousand two hundred ninety-five dollars, plus reasonable costs incurred, if the employee's district court appeal is settled prior to submission of briefs. Eleven thousand seventy-eight dollars, plus reasonable costs incurred, if the employee prevails after hearing by the district court. d. Thirteen thousand two hundred eighty-three dollars, plus reasonable costs incurred, if the employee's North Dakota supreme court appeal is settled prior to hearing. Fourteen thousand five hundred ninety-five dollars, plus reasonable costs incurred, if the employee prevails after hearing by the supreme court. e. Two thousand two hundred five dollars, plus reasonable costs incurred, if the employee requests binding dispute resolution and prevails. f. Should a settlement or order amendment offered during the DRO process be accepted after the DRO certificate of completion has been issued, no attorney's fees are payable. This contemplates not only identical offers and order amendments but those which are substantially similar. 4. The maximum fees specified in subdivisions a, b, c, and d of subsection 3 include all fees paid by the organization to one or more attorneys, legal assistants, law students, and law graduates representing the employee in connection with the same dispute regarding an administrative order at all stages in the proceedings. A "dispute regarding an administrative order" includes all proceedings subsequent to an administrative order, including hearing, judicial appeal, remand, an order resulting from remand, and multiple matters or proceedings consolidated or considered in a single proceeding. 5. All time must be recorded in increments of no more than six minutes (one-tenth of an hour). 6. If the organization is obligated to pay the employee's attorney's fees, the attorney shall submit to the organization a final statement upon resolution of the matter. All statements must show the name of the employee, claim number, date of the statement, the issue, date of each service or charge, itemization and a reasonable description of the legal work performed for each service or charge, time and amount billed for each item, and total time and amounts billed. The employee's attorney shall sign the fee statement. The organization may deny fees and costs that are determined to be excessive or frivolous. 7. The following costs must be reimbursed: a. Actual postage, if postage exceeds three dollars per parcel. b. Actual toll charges for long-distance telephone calls. c. Copying charges, at ten cents per page. d. Mileage and other expenses for reasonable and necessary travel. Mileage and other travel expenses, including per diem, must be paid in the amounts that are paid state officials as provided by North Dakota Century Code sections 44-08-04 and 54-06-09. Out-of-state travel expenses may be reimbursed if approval for such travel is given, in advance, by the organization. e. Other reasonable and necessary costs, not to exceed one hundred fifty dollars. Other reasonable and necessary costs in excess of one hundred fifty dollars may be reimbursed upon agreement, in advance, by the organization. Costs for typing and clerical or office services may not be reimbursed. 8. The following costs may not be reimbursed: a. Facsimile charges. b. Express mail. c. Additional copies of transcripts. d. Costs incurred to obtain medical records. e. Online computer-assisted legal research. f. Copy charges for documents provided by the organization. The organization shall reimburse court reporters for mileage and other expenses, for reasonable and necessary travel, in the amounts that are paid state officials as provided by North Dakota Century Code sections 44-08-04 and 54-06-09.