Romero v. Kijakazi
- Proceeding
- district
- Area
- civil
- Panel
- Mitchell D. Dembin (author)
Analysis
The court considered the parties' joint motion for attorney's fees and expenses under the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA) following a sentence four remand in a Social Security appeal. The court granted the motion and awarded the plaintiff $7,500.00 in fees and expenses.
| What the court decided | The model |
|---|---|
Granting the joint motion for attorney's fees and expenses under the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA).“Accordingly, the Court GRANTS the joint motion and AWARDS Plaintiff attorney’s fees and expenses in the total amount of $7,500.00.” | agree with court The court correctly applied the legal standard for EAJA fees in Social Security cases. It cited Akopyan v. Barnhart to establish that a sentence four remand constitutes a final judgment for fee 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 record recited in the order. |
The order itself: sound — The order is concise and correctly applies the controlling Ninth Circuit precedent (Akopyan) to determine that the plaintiff is a prevailing party and the motion is timely. It relies on the parties' stipulation regarding the reasonableness of the fee amount, which is a standard procedural mechanism in such cases. The reasoning is sufficient for the specific motion presented.
Opinion
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 8 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 9 10 JUANITA R., Case No.: 21cv1296-MDD 11 Plaintiff, ORDER GRANTING JOINT 12 v. MOTION FOR ATTORNEY FEES AND EXPENSES PURSUANT TO 13 KILOLO KIJAKAZI, Acting THE EQUAL ACCESS TO Commissioner of Social Security, 14 JUSTICE ACT (28 U.S.C. § 2412(d)) Defendant. 15 [ECF No. 17] 16 17 18 On July 20, 2021, Plaintiff Juanita R. filed this social security appeal 19 challenging the denial of her application for disability insurance benefits. 20 (ECF No. 1). On November 30, 2022, the Court granted the parties’ joint 21 motion for judicial review in favor of Plaintiff and remanded this matter to 22 the Administrative Law Judge (“ALJ”) pursuant to sentence four of 42 U.S.C. 23 § 405(g). (ECF No. 15). The parties now stipulate to an award to Plaintiff of 24 attorneys’ fees and expenses in the amount of $7,500.00 under the Equal 25 Access to Justice Act (“EAJA”), 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d), and no costs under 28 26 U.S.C. § 1920. (ECF No. 17 at 1). 1 || United States within thirty days of final judgment. 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d). “A 9 ||sentence four remand becomes final judgment, for purposes of attorneys’ fees 3 ||claims brought pursuant to the EAJA, 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d), upon expiration of 4 ||the time for appeal.” Akopyan v. Barnhart, 296 F.3d 852, 854 (9th Cir. 2002). 5 || If one of the parties is the United States, either party may file a notice of 6 ||appeal within sixty days of the order appealed from. See Fed. R. App. 7 ||4(a)(1)(B). “A plaintiff who obtains a sentence four remand is considered a 8 || prevailing party for purposes of attorneys’ fees.” Akopyan, 296 F.3d at 854. 9 || Therefore, Plaintiff is the prevailing party in this action for purposes of 10 ||attorney’s fees, the parties’ joint motion is timely, and the Court finds the 11 ||stipulated amount of fees and expenses reasonable. 12 Accordingly, the Court GRANTS the joint motion and AWARDS 13 || Plaintiff attorney’s fees and expenses in the total amount of $7,500.00. Fees 14 || will be made payable to Juanita R., but if the Department of Treasury 15 ||determines that Juanita R. owes a qualifying debt under the Treasury Offset 16 || Program, 31 U.S.C. § 3716, the check shall be made payable to Plaintiff, and 17 ||delivered to her attorney, Martha Yancey. If the Department of Treasury 18 ||determines that Plaintiff owes no such debt subject to offset, then the 19 attorney’s fees shall be made payable directly to her attorney pursuant to an 90 ||assignment that Plaintiff executes. 21 IT IS SO ORDERED. Dated: February 1, 2023 Mitel » [> Hon. Mitchell D. Dembin 24 United States Magistrate Judge 25 26 27