Poole v. Commissioner of Social Security

Opinion

1 JUDGE RICARDO S. MARTINEZ 2

6 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON AT TACOMA 8 JASON L. POOLE, ) 9 ) CIVIL NO. 3:19-cv-06096-RSM 10 Plaintiff, ) ) 11 vs. ) ) ORDER 12 COMMISSIONER OF SOCIAL SECURITY, ) ) 13 Defendant ) ) 14

15 This matter comes before the Court on the parties’ stipulated motion for attorney’s fees 16 pursuant to the Equal Access to Justice Act, 28 U.S.C. § 2412 17 The motion is timely as Plaintiff had a 60-day appeal period, plus the 30-day period in 18 §2412(d)(1)(B), from the entry of final judgment on July 10, 2020, to file a timely EAJA 19 application. Akopyan v. Barnhart, 296 F.3d 852 (9th Cir. 2002); Melkonyan v. Sullivan, 501 U.S. 20 89, 94-96 (1991); FED. R. App. P. 4(a). Furthermore, upon review of the stipulation and the 21 record, the Court determines that Plaintiff is the prevailing party, the government’s position was 22 not substantially justified, and that the itemization of attorney time spent is reasonable. In short, 23 the requirements of § 2412(d)(1)(B) are met. 24 25

David Oliver & Associates 2608 South 47th Street, Suite C 1 Having thoroughly considered the parties’ briefing and the relevant record, the Court 2 | hereby GRANTS the motion and awards Plaintiff $7,318.08 in attorney’s fees, subject to any offset 3 | allowed under the Treasury Offset Program. See. Astrue v. Ratiff, 560 U.S. 586, 589 — 590 (2010). 4 | Payment of EAJA fees shall be sent to Plaintiff's attorney: David Oliver & Associates, 2608 South 5 | 48™ Street, Suite C, Tacoma, WA 98409. Pursuant to Ratiff, award shall be payable to Plaintiff's 6 | attorneys, David Oliver & Associates, if the Commissioner confirms that Plaintiff owes no debt to 7 | the Government through the Federal Treasury Offset program. 8 For the foregoing reasons, Plaintiff's stipulated motion for attorney fees is GRANTED; 9 DATED this 29" day of September, 2020. 10 11 12 (AWIS RICARDO S. MARTINEZ 13 CHIEF UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE 14 15 16 17 18 | Presented by: 19 20 | S/David P. OLIVER David P. Oliver, 21 | Attorney for Plaintiff 22 23 24 25 David Oliver & Associates 2608 South 47" Street, Suite C ORDER FOR EAJA FEES - 2 Tacoma, WA 98409 (253) 472-4357