Frank v. Kijakazi

Opinion

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 DANA F., Case No.: 3:20-cv-01548-AHG 12 Plaintiff, ORDER REQUIRING 13 v. SUPPLEMENTAL BRIEFING 14 KILOLO KIJAKAZI, Commissioner of [ECF No. 20] Social Security, 15 Defendant. 16 17 18 19 21 22 23 24 26 27 28 2 the Equal Access to Justice Act. ECF No. 20. The parties jointly move the court to award 3 Plaintiff Dana F. (“Plaintiff”) attorney fees and expenses pursuant to the Equal Access to 4 Justice Act (“EAJA”), 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d). Id. 5 Under the EAJA, a litigant is entitled to attorney fees and costs if: “(1) he is the 6 prevailing party; (2) the government fails to show that its position was substantially 7 justified or that special circumstances make an award unjust; and (3) the requested fees and 8 costs are reasonable.” Carbonell v. I.N.S., 429 F.3d 894, 898 (9th Cir. 2005). To assess the 9 third factor of whether the requested fees are reasonable, the Court assesses whether the 10 hourly rates and number of hours billed are reasonable. See, e.g., Beatriz B. v. Saul, No. 11 19cv785-AHG, 2020 WL 5203371, at *2–*3 (S.D. Cal. Sept. 1, 2020); Smith v. Berryhill, 12 No. 17cv2108-CAB-RNB, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 89885, at *5 (S.D. Cal. Mar. 14, 2019); 13 Ulugalu v. Berryhill, No. 17cv1087-GPC-JLB, 2018 WL 2012330, at *3–*4 (S.D. Cal. 14 Apr. 30, 2018). 15 The parties failed to include a billing statement with their joint motion, or any 16 information regarding the number of hours billed and at what rates. Since this information 17 is essential to the Court’s analysis of the reasonableness of the requested fees, the Court 18 ORDERS the parties to submit a Joint Supplemental Brief no later than 19 February 18, 2022. The Joint Supplemental Brief shall include the names, qualifications, 20 experience, and hourly billing rates of all attorneys and paralegals who worked on this case 21 on behalf of Plaintiff. The parties shall also attach Plaintiff’s billing statement as an exhibit, 22 which should include dates, time spent, attorney or paralegal designation, description of 23 actions, and totals. 24 Additionally, the parties request that, if Plaintiff does not owe a federal debt making 25 the fees subject to offset, any payments of EAJA fees and costs “shall be delivered to 26 Plaintiff’s counsel, Meghan O. Lambert” pursuant to an “assignment executed by 27 Plaintiff.” ECF No. 20 at 3. This request is consistent with the governing law that a fee 28 award may be paid directly to a litigant’s attorney “where there has been a valid assignment and the plaintiff does not owe a debt to the government.” Ulugalu, 2018 WL 2012330, at 1 || *4—*5 (reviewing Plaintiffs assignment agreement and ordering that the EAJA fees be 2 || paid to plaintiff's counsel, subject to any administrative offset due to outstanding federal 3 || debt). See also Bell v. Berryhill, No. 16cv809-MMC, 2018 WL 452110, at *5 (N.D. Cal. 4 || Jan. 17, 2018) (same); Blackwell v. Astrue, No. CIV-08-1454-EFB, 2011 WL 1077765, at 5 || *4—*5 (E.D. Cal. Mar. 21, 2011) (same); Castaneda v. Astrue, No. EDCV-09-1850-OP, 6 ||2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 72887, at *6—*8 (C.D. Cal. Jul. 20, 2010) (same). However, the 7 || parties here have not provided the relevant assignment agreement to the Court. Therefore, 8 ||the Court will not order the payment of fees and costs to be made directly to □□□□□□□□□□□ 9 ||counsel unless the parties provide evidence of the assignment agreement in their 10 supplemental briefing. See Hernandez v. Berryhill, No. 15cv1322-DB, 2017 WL 2930802, 11 *3 (E.D. Cal. July 10, 2017) (declining to order that the EAJA fees be paid to □□□□□□□□□□□ 12 counsel, subject to any administrative offset due to outstanding federal debt, because the 13 parties failed to produce evidence of an assignment agreement). If the parties wish the 14 |/Court to include an instruction that EAJA fees and costs be paid directly to Plaintiffs 15 |} counsel, they are ORDERED to provide evidence of the assignment agreement in the Joint 16 || Supplemental Brief. 17 IT IS SO ORDERED. De dicoennH. Movolann 19 || Dated: February 14, 2022 Honorable Allison H. Goddard 20 United States Magistrate Judge 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28