Tilden v. Kijakazi

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 8 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 9 10 PAIGE T., Case No.: 20cv2456-MDD 11 Plaintiff, ORDER GRANTING JOINT 12 v. MOTION FOR THE AWARD AND PAYMENT OF ATTORNEY FEES 13 KILOLO KIJAKAZI, Acting AND EXPENSES PURSUANT TO Commissioner of 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. 19] 18 19 On December 16, 2020, Plaintiff Paige T. filed this Social Security 20 appeal challenging the denial of her application for disability insurance 21 benefits. (ECF No. 1). On March 25, 2022, the Court granted the parties’ 22 joint motion for voluntary remand, pursuant to sentence four of 42 USC § 23 405(g), and judgment was entered in favor of Plaintiff, and against 24 Defendant, reversing the final decision of the Commissioner. (ECF Nos. 17- 25 18). The parties now stipulate to an award to Plaintiff of attorney’s fees and 26 expenses in the amount of $4,402.00 under the Equal Access to Justice Act 1 A prevailing party may seek attorney’s fees from the United States 9 ||under the EAJA within thirty days of final judgment. 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d). 3 ||“A sentence four remand becomes a final judgment, for purposes of attorneys’ 4 ||fees claims brought pursuant to the EAJA, 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d), upon 5 ||expiration of the time for appeal.” Akopyan v. Barnhart, 296 F.3d 852, 854 6 || (9th Cir. 2002). If one of the parties is the United States, either party may 7 a notice of appeal within sixty days of the judgment or order appealed 8 ||from. See Fed. R. App. 4(a)(1)(B). “A plaintiff who obtains a sentence four 9 ||remand is considered a prevailing party for purposes of attorneys’ fees.” 10 Akopyan, 296 F.3d at 854. Therefore, Plaintiff is the prevailing party in this 11 action for purposes of attorney’s fees, the parties’ joint motion is timely, and 12 ||the Court finds the stipulated amount of fees and expenses to be reasonable. 13 Accordingly, the Court GRANTS the joint motion and AWARDS 14 || Plaintiff attorney’s fees and expenses in the total amount of $4,402.00. Fees 15 || will be made payable to Paige T., but if the Department of the Treasury 16 determines that Paige T. does not owe a federal debt, then the government 17 || will cause the payment of fees, expenses, and costs to be made directly to the 18 Law Offices of Lawrence D. Rohlfing, Inc., CPC, pursuant to the assignment 19 ||}executed by Paige T. Any payments shall be delivered to Monica Perales. 20 IT IS SO ORDERED. Dated: June 30, 2022 □□□ +L s | [> Hon. Mitchell D. Dembin 23 United States Magistrate Judge 24 25 26 27