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

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 MANNY SANTIAGO CABEJE, Case No. 1:22-cv-00489-HBK1 12 Plaintiff, ORDER GRANTING AWARD AND PAYMENT OF ATTORNEYS FEES UNDER 13 v. THE EQUAL ACCESS TO JUSTICE ACT 14 KILOLO KIJAKAZI, ACTING (Doc. No. 19) COMMISSIONER OF SOCIAL 15 SECURITY, 16 Defendant. 17 18 19 20 Pending before the Court is the parties’ stipulated motion for award of attorney’s fees 21 filed on October 6, 2023. (Doc. No. 19). The parties agree to an award of attorney’s fees and 22 expenses to Plaintiff’s attorney, Francesco P. Benavides of the Law Offices of Francesco 23 Benavides, in the amount of $7,400.00, and $402.00 in costs,2 pursuant to the Equal Access to 24 Justice Act (“EAJA”), 28 U.S.C. §§ 1920, 2412. (Id.). 25 //// 26 //// 27 1 Both parties have consented to the jurisdiction of a magistrate judge in accordance with 28 U.S.C. §636(c)(1). (Doc. No. 9). 28 2 Plaintiff paid the filing fee in this action. (Receipt Number ACAEDC-10196534). 1 On September 26, 2023, this Court granted Plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment and 2 remanded the case pursuant to sentence four of 42 U.S.C. § 405(g) to the Commissioner for 3 further administrative proceedings. (Doc. No. 17). Judgment was entered the same day. (Doc. 4 No. 18). Plaintiff now requests an award of fees and costs as the prevailing party. See 28 U.S.C. 5 § 2412(a) & (d)(1)(A); Fed. R. Civ. P. 54(d)(1); see 28 U.S.C. § 1920; cf. Shalala v. Schaefer, 6 509 U.S. 292, 300-02 (1993) (concluding that a party who wins a sentence-four remand order 7 under 42 U.S.C. § 405(g) is a prevailing party). The Commissioner does not oppose the 8 requested relief. 9 The EAJA provides for an award of attorney fees to private litigants who both prevail in 10 civil actions (other than tort) against the United States and timely file a petition for fees. 28 11 U.S.C. § 2412(d)(1)(A). Under the Act, a court shall award attorney fees to the prevailing party 12 unless it finds the government’s position was “substantially justified or that special circumstances 13 make such an award unjust.” Id. Here, the government did not show its position was 14 substantially justified and the Court finds there are not special circumstances that would make an 15 award unjust. 16 Based on the stipulation, the Court finds an award of $7,400.00 in attorney fees and 17 expenses, and $402.00 in costs, is appropriate. EAJA fees, expenses, and costs are subject to any 18 offsets allowed under the Treasury Offset Program (“TOP”), as discussed in Astrue v. Ratliff, 532 19 U.S. 1192 (2010). If the Commissioner determines upon effectuation of this Order that Plaintiff’s 20 EAJA fees are not subject to any offset allowed under the TOP, the fees shall be delivered or 21 otherwise transmitted to Plaintiff’s counsel. 22 //// 23 Accordingly, it is ORDERED: 24 1. The stipulated motion for attorney fees and expenses (Doc. No. 19) is GRANTED. 25 2. The Commissioner is directed to pay to Plaintiff as the prevailing party EAJA fees in 26 the amount of $7,400.00 in attorney fees and expenses, and $402.00 in costs. Unless the 27 Department of Treasury determines that Plaintiff owes a federal debt, the government shall make 28 payment of the EAJA fees to Plaintiff’s counsel, Francesco P. Benavides of the Law Offices of 1 | Francesco Benavides, in accordance with Plaintiff's assignment of fees and subject to the terms of 2 | the stipulated motion. 3 “| Dated: _ October 10, 2023 Wile. Lh fareh Hack 5 HELENA M. BARCH-KUCHTA ‘ UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28