Antonin Scalia

“ When fees are payable by persons other than the claimants, as Congress has provided, regulation is designed to assure fairness to the employer, carrier, or Trust Fund, and to protect those sources from a depletion that would leave other claimants without a source of compensation. ”

“ There is no apparent reason why compensation cannot render palatable the additional delay inherent in the Department's approval procedure as well. At one point the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals seemed to acknowledge this, asserting that its whole case against the Department's scheme boils down to the fact that the fees are too low: "It is clear from the evidence before us that most lawyers are unwilling to represent black lung claimants because of the inadequate fees awarded by the DOL." Id., at 545, 378 S.E.2d, at 94. ”

“ We began there, as we begin here, by noting the heavy presumption of constitutionality to which a "carefully considered decision of a coequal and representative branch of our Government" is entitled. Id., 473 U.S., at 319, 105 S.Ct., at 3188. We determined in Walters that the Government had an interest in administering benefits in an informal and nonadversarial fashion so that claimants would receive the entirety of an award without having to divide it with a lawyer. ”

“ When, however, enforcement of a restriction against the litigant prevents a third party from entering into a relationship with the litigant (typically a contractual relationship) , to which relationship the third party has a legal entitlement (typically a constitutional entitlement) , third-party standing has been held to exist. ”

“ Finally, to establish the necessary causality the court relied on the conclusory impressions of interested lawyers as to the effect of the Department's fee regime on the availability of attorneys. One lawyer, for example, whose experience consisted of representing two claimants prior to 1981, said that he did not take black lung cases because of the difficulty in obtaining fees. ”

“ Respondent George R. Triplett (hereinafter respondent) violated these restrictions by receiving unapproved fees. He agreed to represent claimants in exchange for 25% of any award obtained, and collected those fees without the required approval. The Committee on Legal Ethics of the West Virginia State Bar initiated a disciplinary action against respondent for these infractions. The committee, after a hearing, recommended a 6-month suspension, and filed a complaint in the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals to enforce that sanction. ”

“ National Assn. of Radiation Survivors, supra, we upheld against due process attack a statutory $10 limitation on attorney's fees payable by veterans seeking disability or death benefits in proceedings before the Veterans' Administration. ”