Berryman v. Kijakazi
- Proceeding
- district
- Area
- civil
- Panel
- Barbara Lynn Major (author)
Analysis
The court considered 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. The court granted the motion and awarded the plaintiff $14,000.00 in fees and expenses.
| What the court decided | The model |
|---|---|
Granting the joint motion for the award and payment of attorney's fees and expenses pursuant to the Equal Access to Justice Act.“Accordingly, the Court GRANTS the joint motion and AWARDS Plaintiff attorney's fees and expenses in the total amount of $14,000.00, subject to the terms of the parties’ joint motion.” | agree with court The court correctly applied the EAJA, which allows a prevailing party to recover fees. The court relied on Akopyan v. Barnhart to establish that a sentence four remand constitutes a final judgment for EAJA purposes and that the plaintiff is a prevailing party. The court found the motion timely and the stipulated amount reasonable. The decision follows from the law and the stipulated facts. |
The order itself: sound — The order is procedurally correct and relies on the appropriate binding authority (Akopyan) from the Ninth Circuit to determine prevailing party status and finality for EAJA purposes. The court properly noted the timeliness of the motion and the reasonableness of the stipulated fees. There are no significant gaps in the reasoning for this specific type of order.
Opinion
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 Case No.: 20-cv-1427-BLM 11 PAMELLA BERRYMAN, 12 Plaintiff, ORDER GRANTING JOINT MOTION FOR THE AWARD AND PAYMENT OF 13 v. ATTORNEY FEES AND EXPENSES PURSUANT TO THE EQUAL ACCESS TO 14 KILOLO KIJAKAZI, Acting Commissioner of JUSTICE ACT, 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d) Social Security, 15 Defendant. [ECF No. 26] 16 17 18 19 On July 24, 2020, Plaintiff Pamella Berryman filed a complaint against Defendant Acting 20 Commissioner of Social Security, Kilolo Kijakazi, seeking judicial review of the denial of her 21 application for social security disability and supplemental security income benefits. ECF No. 1. 22 On July 1, 2021, the parties filed a joint motion for voluntary remand pursuant to sentence four 23 of 42 U.S.C. §405(g) [ECF No. 21], which the Court granted. ECF No. 22. The parties now 24 stipulate to an award to Plaintiff of attorney’s fees and expenses in the amount of $14,000.00 25 under the Equal Access to Justice Act (“EAJA”), 28 U.S.C. 2412(d). ECF No. 26. 26 The EAJA allows a prevailing party to seek attorney’s fees from the United States within 27 thirty days of final judgment. 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d). “A sentence four remand becomes a final 28 judgment, for purposes of attorneys’ fees claims brought pursuant to the EAJA, 28 U.S.C. 1 2412(d), upon expiration of the time for appeal.” Akopyan v. Barnhart, 296 F.3d 852, 854 2 Cir. 2002). If one of the parties is the United States, either party may file a notice of appeal 3 || within sixty days of the order appealed from. See Fed. R. App. 4(a)(1)(B). “A plaintiff who 4 || obtains a sentence four remand is considered a prevailing party for attorneys’ fees.” Akopyan, 5 || 296 F.3d at 854. Plaintiff is the prevailing party in this action for purposes of attorney’s fees, 6 || the parties’ joint motion is timely, and the Court finds the stipulated amount of fees and expenses 7 || reasonable. 8 Accordingly, the Court GRANTS the joint motion and AWARDS Plaintiff attorney's fees 9 || and expenses in the total amount of $14,000.00, subject to the terms of the parties’ joint motion. 10 will be made payable to Pamella Berryman, but if the Department of the Treasury 11 determines that Pamella Berryman does not owe a federal debt, then the government will cause 12 payment of fees, expenses, and costs to be made directly to the Legal Aid Society of San 13 Diego, pursuant to the assignment executed by Pamella Berryman. Any payments will be 14 || delivered to Plaintiff's counsel. 15 IT IS SO ORDERED. 16 Dated: 11/1/2021 lxirbee Mager 17 Hon. Barbara L. Major United States Maqistrate Judde 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28