Balthazar v. Commissioner of Social Security ( 2021 )

1 2 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 3 WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON 4 AT SEATTLE 5 MICHAEL BALTHAZAR 6 Plaintiff, Case No. 2:20-cv-01645-RSM 7 vs. 8 COMMISSIONER OF SOCIAL SECURITY, ORDER FOR EAJA ATTORNEY FEES, 9 COSTS AND EXPENSES 10 Defendant. ______________________________________ 11 Based upon the Stipulation of the parties, the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA), 28 12 13 U.S.C. § 2412, and Plaintiff’s EAJA petition, it is hereby ordered that EAJA attorney’s fees of 14 $6,542.63 shall be awarded to Plaintiff pursuant to Astrue v. Ratliff, 130 U.S. 2521 (2010). This 15 award is based on 2.86 hours of attorney work in 2020 at a rate of $207.78 per hour, and 27.83 16 hours in 2021 at a rate of $213.74 per hour. No expenses or costs are awarded. 17 If the U.S. Department of Treasury verifies to the Office of General Counsel that Plaintiff 18 does not owe a debt, the government will honor Plaintiff’s assignment of EAJA Fees pay EAJA 19 fees directly to Plaintiff’s attorney, DEBRA J. VENHAUS at P.O. Box 12488, Mill Creek, WA. 20 DATED this 7th day of December, 2021. 21 22 A 23 RICARDO S. MARTINEZ 24 CHIEF UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE 25 ORDER FOR EAJA FEES, COSTS AND EXPENSES 1 2 Presented by: s/Debra J. Venhaus 3 Debra J. Venhaus, WSBA 33458 Attorney for Plaintiff 4 P.O. Box 12488, Mill Creek, WA 98082 5 Tel: 425-332-3150 6 Approved for Entry: s/Debra J. Venhaus (signed per authorization) 7 Leisa A. Wolf Special Asst. U.S. Attorney 8 Attorney for Defendant 9 10 11 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE 12 I HEREBY CERTIFY that on December 2, 2021, I electronically filed the foregoing 13 document with the Clerk of the Court using CM/ECF, which will send a notice of electronic 14 filing to the following: 15 Leisa A. Wolf 16 Special Asst. U.S. Attorney 701 Fifth Ave., Suite 2900 M/S 221A 17 Seattle, WA 98104 18 s/Debra J. Venhaus ___ Debra J. Venhaus, WSBA 33458 19 Attorney for Plaintiff 20 P.O. Box 12488 Mill Creek, WA 98082 21 Tel: 425-332-3150; Fax: 425-332-3195 DJVLaw1@aol.com 22 23 24 25 ORDER FOR EAJA FEES, COSTS AND EXPENSES