Johnson v. Commissioner of Social Security

Opinion

1 U.S. DISTRICT JUDGE RICHARD A. JONES

6 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON AT SEATTLE 8 9 MICHAEL B. JOHNSON, ) ) CIVIL NO. 3:19-cv-06039-RAJ 10 Plaintiff, ) ) ORDER 11 vs. ) 12 ) COMMISSIONER OF SOCIAL SECURITY, ) 13 ) Defendant ) 14 ) 15 16 This matter comes before the Court on the parties’ stipulated motion for attorney’s 17 fees pursuant to the Equal Access to Justice Act, 28 U.S.C. § 2412 18 The motion is timely as Plaintiff had a 60-day appeal period, plus the 30-day 19 period in §2412(d)(1)(B), from the entry of final judgment on April 21, 2020 to file a 20 timely EAJA application. Akopyan v. Barnhart, 296 F.3d 852 (9th Cir. 2002); Melkonyan 21 v. Sullivan, 501 U.S. 89, 94-96 (1991); FED. R. App. P. 4(a). Furthermore, upon review 22 of the stipulation and the record, the Court determines that Plaintiff is the prevailing 23 party, the government’s position was not substantially justified, and that the itemization 24 25

David Oliver & Associates 2608 South 47th Street, Suite C 1 of attorney time spent is reasonable. In short, the requirements of § 2412(d)(1)(B) are 2 met. 3 Having thoroughly considered the parties’ briefing and the relevant record, the 4 Court hereby GRANTS the motion and awards Plaintiff $5,060.16 in attorney’s fees, 5 subject to any offset allowed under the Treasury Offset Program. See. Astrue v. Ratiff, 560 6 U.S. 586, 589 – 590 (2010). Payment of EAJA fees shall be sent to Plaintiff’s attorney: 7 David Oliver & Associates, 2608 South 48th Street, Suite C, Tacoma, WA 98409. Pursuant 8 to Ratiff, award shall be payable to Plaintiff’s attorneys, David Oliver & Associates, if the 9 Commissioner confirms that Plaintiff owes no debt to the Government through the Federal 10 Treasury Offset program. 11 12 For the foregoing reasons, Plaintiff’s stipulated motion for attorney fees is 13 GRANTED. 14 DATED this the 12th day of August, 2020. 15 A

16 17 The Honorable Richard A. Jones United States District Judge 18 19

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David Oliver & Associates 2608 South 47th Street, Suite C