Heck v. Saul
- Proceeding
- district
- Area
- civil
- Panel
- Mitchell D. Dembin (author)
Analysis
The court reviewed a joint motion by the plaintiff and defendant for an award of attorney's fees and expenses under the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA) following a sentence four remand in a Social Security disability case. The court granted the motion and awarded the plaintiff $2,500.00 in fees and expenses.
| What the court decided | The model |
|---|---|
Grant of joint motion for award and payment of attorney fees and expenses pursuant to the EAJA“Accordingly, the Court GRANTS the joint motion and AWARDS Plaintiff attorney’s fees and expenses in the total amount of $2,500.00.” | agree with court The court correctly applied the EAJA framework. It established that the plaintiff was a 'prevailing party' because she obtained a sentence four remand, citing Akopyan v. Barnhart. It confirmed the motion was timely by noting that a sentence four remand becomes a final judgment for EAJA purposes upon the expiration of the time for appeal (60 days for the United States). Since the parties stipulated to the amount and the court found it reasonable, the grant of the motion follows logically from the cited authorities and the procedural history. |
The order itself: sound — The order is concise but legally sufficient for a stipulated EAJA fee motion. It correctly identifies the plaintiff as a prevailing party under Ninth Circuit precedent (Akopyan) and verifies the timeliness of the motion based on the finality of the sentence four remand. The reliance on the parties' stipulation for the reasonableness of the fee amount is standard practice in such contexts.
Opinion
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 8 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 9 10 LEE ANN H., Case No.: 20cv1122-MDD 11 Plaintiff, ORDER GRANTING JOINT 12 v. MOTION FOR THE AWARD AND PAYMENT OF ATTORNEY FEES 13 ANDREW SAUL, Commissioner of AND EXPENSES PURSUANT TO Social Security, 14 THE EQUAL ACCESS TO Defendant. JUSTICE ACT, 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d) 15 AND COSTS PURSUANT TO 28 16 U.S.C. § 1920 17 [ECF No. 21] 18 19 20 On June 19, 2020, Plaintiff Lee Ann H. filed this Social Security appeal 21 challenging the denial of her application for disability insurance benefits. 22 (ECF No. 1). On March 4, 2021, the Court granted the parties’ joint motion 23 for voluntary remand, pursuant to sentence four of 42 USC § 405(g), and 24 judgment was entered in favor of Plaintiff, and against Defendant, reversing 25 the final decision of the Commissioner. (ECF Nos. 19-20). The parties now 26 stipulate to an award to Plaintiff of attorney’s fees and expenses in the 1 || U.S.C. § 2412(d). (ECF No. 21 at 1). 2 A prevailing party may seek attorney’s fees from the United States 3 ||under the EAJA within thirty days of final judgment. 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d). 4 ||“A sentence four remand becomes a final judgment, for purposes of attorneys’ 5 ||fees claims brought pursuant to the EAJA, 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d), upon 6 expiration of the time for appeal.” Akopyan v. Barnhart, 296 F.3d 852, 854 7 ||(9th Cir. 2002). If one of the parties is the United States, either party may g || file a notice of appeal within sixty days of the order appealed from. See Fed. 9 ||R. App. 4(a)(1)(B). “A plaintiff who obtains a sentence four remand is 10 ||considered a prevailing party for purposes of attorneys’ fees.” Akopyan, 296 11 || F.8d at 854. Therefore, Plaintiff is the prevailing party in this action for 12 purposes of attorney’s fees, the parties’ joint motion is timely, and the Court 13 finds the stipulated amount of fees and expenses to be reasonable. 14 Accordingly, the Court GRANTS the joint motion and AWARDS 15 || Plaintiff attorney’s fees and expenses in the total amount of $2,500.00. Fees 16 || will be made payable to Lee Ann H., but if the Department of the Treasury 17 || determines that Lee Ann H. does not owe a federal debt, then the government 18 || will cause the payment of fees, expenses, and costs to be made directly to the 19 || Law Offices of Lawrence D. Rohlfing, pursuant to the assignment executed by 909 || Lee Ann H. Any payments shall be delivered to Brian C. Shapiro. 91 IT IS SO ORDERED. Dated: April 15, 2021 + uk | [ Hon. Mitchell D. Dembin 24 United States Magistrate Judge 25 26 27