BRB No. 93-2493

LLOYD PONTZIUS                          )
                                        )
          Claimant-Respondent           )
                                        )
     v.                                 )    DATE ISSUED:   01/29/1996        )
INGALLS SHIPBUILDING,                   )
INCORPORATED                            )
                                        )
          Self-Insured                  )
          Employer-Petitioner           )    DECISION and ORDER

     Appeal of the Second Supplemental Decision and Order Awarding Attorney
     Fees of Quentin P. McColgin, Administrative Law Judge, United States
     Department of Labor.

     Traci M. Castille (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 Second Supplemental Decision and Order Awarding Attorney
Fees (88-LHC-3099) of Administrative Law Judge Quentin P. McColgin 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's counsel sought an attorney's fee of $687.50, representing 5.50
hours at $125 per hour, for work performed before the administrative law judge on
remand in connection with claimant's hearing loss claim.  The administrative law
judge awarded counsel a fee of $385, representing 3.50 hours at an hourly rate of
$110.  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 to employer's appeal.



     Employer's objections to the number of hours and 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 contentions which were not raised below will not be addressed for
the first time on appeal. Bullock v. Ingalls Shipbuilding, Inc., 27 BRBS 90
(1993)(en banc)(Brown and McGranery, JJ., concurring and dissenting),
modified on other grounds on recon. en banc, 28 BRBS 102 (1994), 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 Second 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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