Sepulveda v. Commissioner of Social Security ( 2021 )

1 U.S. DISTRICT JUDGE RICARDO S. MARTINEZ 2 3 4 5 6 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON 7 SEATTLE DIVISION 8 TAIMI L. SEPULVEDA, ) ) CIVIL NO. 2:21-cv-00408-RSM 9 Plaintiff, ) 10 ) ORDER vs. ) 11 ) COMMISSIONER OF SOCIAL SECURITY, ) 12 ) Defendant ) 13 ) 14 This matter comes before the Court on the parties’ stipulated motion for attorney’s fees 15 pursuant to the Equal Access to Justice Act, 28 U.S.C. § 2412 16 The motion is timely as Plaintiff had a 60-day appeal period, plus the 30-day period in 17 §2412(d)(1)(B), from the entry of final judgement on September 17, 2021 to file a timely EAJA 18 application. Akopyan v. Barnhart, 296 F.3d 852 (9th Cir. 2002); Melkonyan v. Sullivan, 501 U.S. 19 89, 94-96 (1991); FED. R. App. P. 4(a). Furthermore, upon review of the stipulation and the 20 record, the Court determines that Plaintiff is the prevailing party, the government’s position was 21 not substantially justified, and that the itemization of attorney time spent is reasonable. In short, 22 the requirements of § 2412(d)(1)(B) are met. 23 24 25 David Oliver & Associates 2608 South 47th Street, Suite C 1 Having thoroughly considered the parties’ briefing and the relevant record, the Court 2 hereby GRANTS the motion and awards Plaintiff $6,000.00 in attorney’s fees, subject to any offset 3 allowed under the Treasury Offset Program. See. Astrue v. Ratliff, 560 U.S. 586, 589 – 590 (2010). 4 Payment of EAJA fees shall be made payable to and sent to Plaintiff’s attorney by either EFT or 5 check: David Oliver at David Oliver & Associates, 2608 South 47th Street, Suite C, Tacoma, WA 6 98409. Pursuant to Ratliff, award shall be payable to Plaintiff’s attorneys, David Oliver at David 7 Oliver & Associates, if the Commissioner confirms that Plaintiff owes no debt to the Government 8 through the Federal Treasury Offset program. 9 For the foregoing reasons, Plaintiff’s stipulated motion for attorney fees is GRANTED. 10 DATED this 17th day of December, 2021. 11 12 A 13 RICARDO S. MARTINEZ 14 CHIEF UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE 15 16 17 18 19 Presented by: 20 S/David P. OLIVER 21 David P. Oliver, Attorney for Plaintiff 22 23 24 25 David Oliver & Associates 2608 South 47th Street, Suite C