Hardin v. Commissioner of Social Security ( 2022 )

1 U.S. DISTRICT JUDGE RICHARD A. JONES 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON 10 AT SEATTLE 11 CAROLYNN L. HARDIN, ) 12 ) CIVIL NO. 3:20-cv-05847-RAJ Plaintiff, ) 13 ) PROPOSED ORDER vs. ) 14 ) 15 COMMISSIONER OF SOCIAL SECURITY, ) ) 16 Defendant ) ) 17 18 19 This matter comes before the Court on Plaintiff’s motion for attorney’s fees 20 pursuant to the Equal Access to Justice Act, 28 U.S.C. § 2412 21 The motion is timely as Plaintiff had a 60-day appeal period, plus the 30-day 22 period in §2412(d)(1)(B), from the entry of final judgment on June 1, 2021 to file a 23 timely EAJA application. Akopyan v. Barnhart, 296 F.3d 852 (9th Cir. 2002); Melkonyan 24 25 David Oliver & Associates 2608 South 47th Street, Suite C 1 v. Sullivan, 501 U.S. 89, 94-96 (1991); FED. R. App. P. 4(a). Furthermore, upon review 2 of the motion and the record, the Court determines that Plaintiff is the prevailing party, 3 the government’s position was not substantially justified, and that the itemization of 4 attorney time spent is reasonable. In short, the requirements of § 2412(d)(1)(B) are met. 5 Having thoroughly considered the parties’ briefing and the relevant record, the 6 Court hereby GRANTS the motion and awards Plaintiff $6,818.30 in attorney’s fees, 7 subject to any offset allowed under the Treasury Offset Program. See. Astrue v. Ratiff, 560 8 U.S. 586, 589 – 590 (2010). Payment of EAJA fees shall be made payable to David Oliver 9 and shall be sent to Plaintiff’s attorney: David Oliver at David Oliver & Associates, 2608 10 South 47th Street, Suite C, Tacoma, WA 98409. Pursuant to Ratiff, award shall be payable 11 12 to Plaintiff’s attorneys, David Oliver at David Oliver & Associates, if the Commissioner 13 confirms that Plaintiff owes no debt to the Government through the Federal Treasury Offset 14 program. 15 For the foregoing reasons, Plaintiff’s stipulated motion for attorney fees is 16 GRANTED; 17 DATED this the 12th day of January, 2022. 18 A 19 20 The Honorable Richard A. Jones 21 United States District Judge 22 23 24 25 David Oliver & Associates 2608 South 47th Street, Suite C