(SS) Burruel v. Commissioner of Social Security ( 2023 )

1 Jared Walker (SB#269029) P.O. Box 1777 2 Orangevale, CA 95662 T: (916) 476-5044 3 F: (916) 476-5064 jared@jwalker.law 4 5 Attorney for Plaintiff, HEATHER BURRUEL 6 7 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 8 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 9 HEATHER BURRUEL, No. 2:21-cv-1319 DB 10 Plaintiff, STIPULATION AND ORDER FOR THE 11 v. AWARD OF ATTORNEY FEES PURSUANT TO THE EQUAL ACCESS TO JUSTICE 12 KILOLO KIJAKAZI, ACT, 28 U.S.C. § 2412 Acting Commissioner of the Social Security 13 Administration, 14 Defendant. 15 16 IT IS HEREBY STIPULATED by and between the parties through their undersigned 17 counsel, subject to the approval of the Court, that Plaintiff withdraws the previously filed motion 18 for attorney’s fees, and that Plaintiff be awarded attorney fees in the above-entitled action in the 19 amount of $14,00.00 under the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA), 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d). This 20 amount represents compensation for all legal services and expenses incurred on behalf of Plaintiff 21 by counsel in connection with this civil action. 22 Upon the Court’s issuance of an order granting EAJA fees to Plaintiff, the government will 23 determine the issue of Plaintiff’s assignment of EAJA fees to Plaintiff’s attorney. Pursuant to Astrue 24 v. Ratliff, 560 U.S. 586, 597-598 (2010), the ability to honor the assignment will depend on if the 25 fees are subject to any offset allowed under the United States Department of the Treasury’s Offset 26 Program. After the order for EAJA fees is entered, the government will determine whether they are 27 subject to any offset. 28 Fees shall be made payable to Plaintiff, but if the Department of the Treasury determines 1 that Plaintiff does not owe a federal debt, then the government will cause the payment of fees to be 2 made directly to Plaintiff’s attorney, LAW OFFICE OF JARED T. WALKER, P.C., pursuant to the 3 assignment executed by Plaintiff. Any payments made to Plaintiff will be delivered to JARED T. 4 WALKER. 5 This stipulation constitutes a settlement of Plaintiff’s request for EAJA attorney fees and 6 does not constitute an admission of liability on the part of defendant under the EAJA or otherwise. 7 Payment of the agreed amount will constitute a complete release from, and bar to, any and all claims 8 that Plaintiff and/or Plaintiff’s attorney, including LAW OFFICE OF JARED T. WALKER, P.C., 9 may have relating to EAJA attorney fees in connection with this action. 10 This award is without prejudice to the rights of Plaintiff’s counsel to seek Social Security 11 attorney fees under 42 U.S.C. § 406(b), subject to the savings clause provisions of the EAJA. 12 Dated: February 7, 2023 Respectfully submitted, 13 /s/ Jared Walker JARED T. WALKER, 14 Attorney for Plaintiff 15 SO STIPULATED: 16 PHILLIP A. TALBERT United States Attorney 17 MATHEW W. PILE Associate General Counsel 18 Office of Program Litigation, Office 7 19 Social Security Administration 20 By: /s/ *Oscar Gonzalez de Llano OSCAR GONZALEZ DE LLANO 21 (*authorized by e-mail on 2/07/2023) Special Assistant United States Attorney 22 23 Attorneys for Defendant 24 25 26 27 28 1 ORDER 2 Pursuant to the parties’ stipulation, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that: 3 1. The parties’ February 7, 2023 stipulation (ECF No. 31) is granted; 4 2. Plaintiff is awarded $14,000.00 under 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d), inclusive of all amounts 5 claimed under the EAJA, subject to and in accordance with the terms of the parties’ foregoing 6 Stipulation; and 7 3. Plaintiff’s January 10, 2023 motion for attorney fees (ECF No. 27) is withdrawn. 8 DATED: February 17, 2023 /s/ DEBORAH BARNES UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28