(SS) Rudolph v. Commissioner of Social Security ( 2022 )

1 JOSEPHINE M. GERRARD (CBN 303221) Gerrard Law Offices 2 1791 Solano Avenue, Suite F01 3 Berkeley, California 94707 Tel: (510) 838-0529 4 Fax: (510) 280-1635 5 jo@gerrardlawoffices.com Attorney for Ashley E. Rudolph 6 7 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 8 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 9 10 11 12 ASHLEY E. RUDOLPH, Case No. 2:20-cv-00922-DMC 13 Plaintiff, 14 STIPULATION FOR AWARD OF 15 v. ATTORNEY'S FEES PURSUANT TO THE EQUAL ACCESS TO JUSTICE ACT. (28 16 KILOLO KIJAKAZI, U.S.C. § 2412(d)) Acting Commissioner of Social Security, 17 18 Defendant 19 20 21 Plaintiff requests the court award attorney fees in the amount of ten thousand and five 22 hundred dollars ($10,500.00) under the Equal Access to Justice Act EAJA), 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d), 23 and no costs under 28 U.S.C. § 1920. This amount represents compensation for all legal services 24 rendered on behalf of Plaintiff by counsel in connection with this civil action, in accordance with 25 28 U.S.C. §§ 1920; 2412(d). 26 27 APPLICATION AND JOINT STIPULATION FOR AWARD OF ATTORNEY'S FEES PURSUANT TO THE 28 EQUAL ACCESS TO JUSTICE ACT. (28 U.S.C. § 2412(d) - 1 1 Plaintiff offered to settle to a reduced fee on October 21, 2022. 2 Pursuant to Astrue v. Ratliff, 560 U.S. 586, 598, 130 S.Ct. 2521, 177 L.Ed.2d 91 (2010), the 3 ability to honor the assignment will depend on whether the fees are subject to any offset 4 allowed under the United States Department of the Treasury’s Offset Program. After the order 5 for EAJA fees is entered, the government will determine whether they are subject to any offset. 6 Fees shall be made payable to Plaintiff, but if the Department of the Treasury determines 7 that Plaintiff does not owe a federal debt, then the government shall cause the payment of 8 fees, expenses and costs to be made directly to Josephine M. Gerrard, pursuant to the 9 assignment executed by Plaintiff. Any payments made shall be delivered to Josephine M. 10 Gerrard. 11 12 This award is without prejudice to the rights of Josephine M. Gerrard or Gerrard Law 13 Offices to seek Social Security Act attorney fees under 42 U.S.C. § 406(b), subject to the savings 14 clause provisions of the EAJA. The EAJA award will be deducted from the 42 U.S.C. § 406(b) 15 motion for attorney fees. 16 Plaintiff requests that the Court find that she meets the statutory requirements for an 17 award of attorney fees under the EAJA and that the Commissioner’s position was not 18 substantially justified, and award $10,500 in attorney fees under 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d). 19 The proposed order is respectfully submitted by the following: 20 21 /s Josephine M. Gerrard 22 JOSEPHINE M. GERRARD 23 ATTORNEY FOR PLAINTIFF 24 By email 25 /s Oscar Gonzalez de Llano 26 Oscar Gonzalez de Llano 27 APPLICATION AND JOINT STIPULATION FOR AWARD OF ATTORNEY'S FEES PURSUANT TO THE 28 EQUAL ACCESS TO JUSTICE ACT. (28 U.S.C. § 2412(d) - 2 nn enn meen en ne nn nn nn en nnn nn nT OS IED OE 1 Office of General Counsel Social Security Administration LEAD ATTORNEY 2 Edward Alan Olsen, SS 3 US Attorney's Office 4 ATTORNEY TO BE NOTICED 5 /s Josephine M. Gerrard JOSEPHINE M. GERRARD 6 ATTORNEY FOR PLAINTIFF 7 8 9 10 ORDER 11 12 APPROVED AND SO ORDERED: 13 14 15 Dated: October 24, 2022 16 17 DENNIS M. COTA UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 APPLICATION AND JOINT STIPULATION FOR AWARD OF ATTORNEY'S FEES PURSUANT TO THE EQUAL ACCESS TO JUSTICE ACT. (28 U.S.C. § 2412(d) - 3