(SS) Madrigal v. Commissioner of Social Security ( 2020 )

McGREGOR W. SCOTT 1 United States Attorney 2 DEBORAH LEE STACHEL Regional Chief Counsel, Region IX 3 Social Security Administration MARGARET BRANICK-ABILLA 4 Special Assistant United States Attorney 5 160 Spear Street, Suite 800 San Francisco, CA 94105-1545 6 Telephone: (415) 977-8929 Facsimile: (415) 744-0134 7 E-mail: Margaret.Branick-Abilla@ssa.gov 8 Attorneys for Defendant 9 10 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 11 FRESNO DIVISION 12 ESMERALDA BERENISIA MADRIGAL, ) Case No. 1:18-cv-01129-SKO 13 ) Plaintiff, ) STIPULATION AND ORDER FOR THE 14 ) AWARD AND PAYMENT OF 15 vs. ) ATTORNEY FEES PURSUANT TO THE ) EQUAL ACCESS TO JUSTICE ACT, 28 16 ANDREW SAUL, ) U.S.C. § 2412(d) Commissioner of Social Security,1 ) 17 ) (Doc. 23) 18 Defendant. ) ) 19 ) 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 1 Andrew Saul is now the Commissioner of Social Security and is automatically substituted in this 28 action pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 25(d). See also 42 U.S.C. § 405(g) (action survives regardless of any change in the person occupying the office of Commissioner of Social Security). 1 IT IS HEREBY STIPULATED by and between the parties, through their undersigned 2 counsel, subject to the approval of the Court, that Plaintiff be awarded attorney fees in the amount 3 of EIGHT THOUSAND, FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS AND ZERO CENTS ($8,500.00) under 4 the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA), 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d). This amount represents 5 compensation for all legal services rendered on behalf of Plaintiff by counsel in connection with 6 this civil action, in accordance with 28 U.S.C. §§ 1920, 2412(d). 7 After the Court issues an order for EAJA fees to Plaintiff, the government will consider the 8 matter of Plaintiff’s assignment of EAJA fees to counsel Jonathan O. Pena. Pursuant to Astrue v. 9 Ratliff, 560 U.S. 586, 598 (2010), the ability to honor the assignment will depend on whether the 10 fees are subject to any offset allowed under the United States Department of the Treasury’s Offset 11 Program. After the order for EAJA fees is entered, the government will determine whether they 12 are subject to any offset. 13 Fees shall be made payable to Plaintiff, but if the Department of the Treasury determines 14 that Plaintiff does not owe a federal debt, then the government shall cause the payment of fees to 15 be made directly to Jonathan O. Pena, pursuant to the assignment executed by Plaintiff. Any 16 payments made shall be delivered to counsel Jonathan O. Pena. 17 This stipulation constitutes a compromise settlement of Plaintiff’s request for EAJA 18 attorney fees, and does not constitute an admission of liability on the part of Defendant under the 19 EAJA or otherwise. Payment of the agreed amount shall constitute a complete release from, and 20 bar to, any and all claims that Plaintiff and/or counsel Jonathan O. Pena, including Pena & 21 Bromberg, PLC, may have relating to EAJA attorney fees in connection with this action. 22 /// 23 /// 24 /// 25 /// 26 /// 27 28 1 This award is without prejudice to the rights of counsel to seek Social Security Act 2 attorney fees under 42 U.S.C. § 406(b), subject to the savings clause provisions of the EAJA. 3 Respectfully submitted, 4 Dated: March 3, 2020 PENA & BROMBERG, PLC 5 6 By: /s/ Jonathan O. Pena* JONATHAN O. PENA 7 Attorneys for Plaintiff 8 [*As authorized by e-mail on Mar. 3, 2020] 9 10 Dated: March 4, 2020 McGREGOR W. SCOTT United States Attorney 11 DEBORAH LEE STACHEL Regional Chief Counsel, Region IX 12 Social Security Administration 13 14 By: /s/ Margaret Branick-Abilla MARGARET BRANICK-ABILLA 15 Special Assistant United States Attorney 16 Attorneys for Defendant 17 18 ORDER 19 Based upon the parties’ above “Stipulation for the Award and Payment of Attorney Fees 20 21 Under the Equal Access to Justice Act, 28 U.S.C. §2412(d)” (the “Stipulation”) (Doc. 23), IT IS 22 ORDERED that attorney’s fees in the amount of EIGHT THOUSAND, FIVE HUNDRED 23 DOLLARS AND ZERO CENTS ($8,500.00) as authorized under the Equal Access to Justice Act 24 (EAJA), 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d), be awarded subject to the terms of the Stipulation. 25 26 IT IS SO ORDERED. 27 Sheila K. Oberto 28 Dated: March 4, 2020 /s/ . UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28