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

1 PHILLIP A. TALBERT United States Attorney 2 PETER K. THOMPSON (HI 5890) Acting Regional Chief Counsel, Region IX 3 Social Security Administration 4 MARCELO ILLARMO (MABN 670079) Special Assistant United States Attorney 5 160 Spear Street, Suite 800 San Francisco, California 94105 6 Telephone: (415) 977-8944 7 Facsimile: (415) 744-0134 Email: Marcelo.Illarmo@ssa.gov 8 Attorneys for Defendant 9 10 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 11 CARRIE ROBERTS, ) Case No. 1:20-CV-0239-SKO 12 ) Plaintiff ) STIPULATION AND 13 ) ORDER FOR AWARD OF ATTORNEY’S 14 v. ) FEES UNDER THE EQUAL ACCESS TO ) JUSTICE ACT (EAJA) AND DENYING 15 MOTION FOR ATTORNEY’S FEES AS MOOT 16 KILOLO KIJAKAZI, ) 17 Acting Commissioner of Social Security, ) (Docs. 26 & 28) ) 18 Defendant ) ) 19 ____________________________________) 20 IT IS HEREBY STIPULATED by and between the parties through their undersigned counsel, 21 subject to the approval of the Court, that Plaintiff shall be awarded attorney’s fees and expenses 22 under the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA), 28 U.S.C. sec. 2412(d), in the amount of four 23 thousand two hundred seventeen dollars and thirty six cents ($4,217.36) and no costs under 28 U.S.C. 24 § 1920. This amount represents compensation for all legal services rendered on behalf of Plaintiff by 25 counsel in connection with this civil action, in accordance with 28 U.S.C. §§ 1920; 2412(d). 26 Accordingly, should this Court award fees and expenses under EAJA pursuant to this stipulation, 27 Plaintiff’s motion for attorney fees (ECF 26) would be moot. 28 1 After the Court issues an order for EAJA fees to Plaintiff, the government will consider the 2 matter of any assignment of EAJA fees by Plaintiff to his counsel Ana L. Molleda (Counsel). Pursuant to Astrue v. Ratliff, 560 U.S. 586, 598, 130 S.Ct. 2521, 177 L.Ed.2d 91 (2010), the ability to 3 honor the assignment will depend on whether the fees are subject to any offset allowed under the 4 United States Department of the Treasury’s Offset Program. After the order for EAJA fees is entered, 5 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 that 7 Plaintiff does not owe a federal debt, then the government shall cause the payment of fees, expenses 8 and costs to be made directly to Counsel pursuant to an assignment executed by Plaintiff. Any 9 payments made shall be delivered to Counsel. 10 This stipulation constitutes a compromise settlement of Plaintiff’s request for EAJA attorney fees, and does not constitute an admission of liability on the part of Defendant under the EAJA or 11 otherwise. Payment of the agreed amount shall constitute a complete release from, and bar to, any 12 and all claims that Plaintiff and/or Counsel, including his firm, may have relating to EAJA attorney 13 fees in connection with this action. 14 This award is without prejudice to the rights of Counsel to seek Social Security Act attorney 15 fees under 42 U.S.C. § 406(b), subject to the savings clause provisions of the EAJA . 16 17 Respectfully submitted, 18 19 Dated: July 7, 2022 20 By: /s/ Kelsey M. Brown* KELSEY M. BROWN 21 By email authorization on 7/7/22 22 Attorney for Plaintiff 23 Dated: July _7, 2022 PHILLIP A. TALBERT 24 United States Attorney 25 By: /s/ Marcelo Illarmo 26 MARCELO ILLARMO Special Assistant United States Attorney 27 28 1 ORDER 2 Based upon the parties’ foregoing Stipulation for the Award and Payment of Equal Access to 3 Justice Act Fees, Costs, and Expenses (Doc. 28), IT IS ORDERED that fees and expenses in the 4 amount of $4,217.36 as authorized by 28 U.S.C. § 2412, and no costs as authorized by 28 U.S.C. § 5 1920, be awarded subject to the terms of the Stipulation. 6 7 IT IS FUTHER ORDERED that Plaintiff’s motion for attorney fees (Doc. 26) is DENIED 8 as MOOT. 9 10 IT IS SO ORDERED. 11 12 Dated: July 7, 2022 /s/ Sheila K. Oberto . UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28