BRB No. 93-1465

LEFFIE H. FOUNTAIN                      )
                                        )
          Claimant                      )
                                        )
     v.                                 )
                                        )
INGALLS SHIPBUILDING,                   )    DATE ISSUED:   01/29/1996
INCORPORATED                            )
                                        )
          Self-Insured                  )
          Employer-Petitioner           )    DECISION and ORDER

     Appeal of the Supplemental Decision and Order Awarding Attorney Fees of
     Richard D. Mills, Administrative Law Judge, United States Department of
     Labor.

     Traci M. Castille, Jr. (Franke, Rainey & Salloum), Gulfport,
     Mississippi, for self-insured employer.

     Before: HALL, Chief Administrative Appeals Judge, SMITH and DOLDER,
     Administrative Appeals Judges.

     PER CURIAM:

     Employer appeals the Supplemental Decision and Order Awarding Attorney Fees
(89-LHC-3547) of Administrative Law Judge Richard D. Mills rendered on a claim
filed pursuant to the provisions of the Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation
Act, as amended, 33 U.S.C. §901 et seq. (the Act).  The amount of an
attorney's fee award is discretionary and may be set aside only if the challenging
party shows it to be arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or not in
accordance with law. See, e.g., Muscella v. Sun Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co.,
12 BRBS 272 (1980).

     Claimant, a retiree, filed a claim for benefits under the Act for a noise-induced, work-related hearing loss on April 8, 1988.  A Decision and Order
Approving Compromise Settlement was issued on November 30, 1990, in which claimant
obtained past compensation of $1,931.62, $147.45 in interest, and bi-weekly
benefits of $28.80 from November 2, 1990, and continuing; additionally, employer
agreed to pay for claimant's medical expenses associated with his injury as well
as an attorney fee to be determined by the administrative law judge in a later
proceeding. 



     Subsequent to the issuance of the administrative law judge's order, claimant's
counsel submitted a fee petition to the administrative law judge requesting an
attorney's fee of $4,125, representing 33 hours of legal services at the hourly
rate of $125.  Thereafter, employer filed objections to the fee petition.  In a
Supplemental Decision and Order, the administrative law judge declined to address
those entries for services rendered prior to referral of the claim to the Office
of Administrative Law Judges, reduced the number of hours sought by counsel to
16.375, and reduced the hourly rate sought to $110.  Accordingly, the
administrative law judge awarded claimant's counsel a fee of $1,801.25.

     Employer appeals the administrative law judge's fee award, incorporating by
reference the arguments it made below into its appellate brief.  Claimant has not
responded.

     Employer's objections to the number of hours and to the hourly rate awarded
are rejected, as it has not shown that the administrative law judge abused his
discretion in this regard. See Ross v. Ingalls Shipbuilding, Inc., 29 BRBS
42 (1995); Maddon v. Western Asbestos Co., 23 BRBS 55 (1989);  Cabral v.
General Dynamics Corp., 13 BRBS 97 (1981).  Employer's specific objection to
counsel's method of billing in minimum increments of one-quarter hour also is
rejected, as the administrative law judge considered this objection, and his award
conforms to the criteria set forth in the decisions of the United States Court of
Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in Ingalls Shipbuilding, Inc. v. Director, OWCP
[Fairley], No. 89-4459 (5th Cir. July 25, 1990)(unpublished), and Ingalls
Shipbuilding, Inc. v. Director, OWCP [Biggs], No. 94-40066 (5th Cir. Jan. 12,
1995)(unpublished).

     Employer's contention that the nominal benefits received do not merit the fee
awarded was not raised before the administrative law judge.  Arguments which were
not raised below will not be addressed for the first time on appeal. Bullock v.
Ingalls Shipbuilding, Inc., 27 BRBS 90 (1993)(Brown and McGranery, JJ.,
concurring and dissenting), modified on other grounds on recon. en banc, 28
BRBS 102 (1993), aff'd mem. sub nom. Ingalls Shipbuilding, Inc. v. Director,
OWCP [Biggs], 46 F.3d 66 (5th Cir. 1995); Clophus v. Amoco Production
Co., 21 BRBS 261 (1988).

     Accordingly, the Supplemental Decision and Order Awarding Attorney Fees of the
administrative law judge is affirmed.

     SO ORDERED.
                                                                      

                         BETTY JEAN HALL, Chief
                         Administrative Appeals Judge

                         
                                                                       

                         ROY P. SMITH
                         Administrative Appeals Judge


                                                                       

                         NANCY S. DOLDER
                         Administrative Appeals Judge

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