Reeves v. Commissioner of Social Security

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON TACOMA DIVISION 10 MILTON FRANK REEVES, Civil No. 3:20-CV-06069-TLF 11 Plaintiff, 12 vs. 13 ORDER FOR ATTORNEY FEES UNDER COMMISSIONER OF SOCIAL SECURITY, THE EQUAL ACCESS TO JUSTICE ACT 14 (EAJA), 28 U.S.C. § 2412 Defendant. 15 For the reasons set forth in the parties’ stipulated motion for attorney fees under the 16 Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA), 28 U.S.C. § 2412, et seq., and good cause shown, IT IS 17 HEREBY ORDERED AS FOLLOWS: 18 Plaintiff is hereby awarded $4,225.00 in attorney fees, $17.25 in expenses (for postage), 19 and $400.00 in costs (for filing fees) under the EAJA. Under Astrue v. Ratliff, 130 S. Ct. 2521, 20 2528-29 (2010), EAJA fees awarded by this Court belong to the Plaintiff and are subject to offset 21 under the Treasury Offset Program (31 U.S.C. § 3716(c)(3)(B) (2006)). Any EAJA fees should 22 therefore be awarded to Plaintiff and not to Plaintiff’ s attorney. If, after receiving the Court’ s 23 EAJA fee order, the Commissioner (1) determines that Plaintiff has assigned his right to EAJA 24 1 fees to his attorney; (2) determines that Plaintiff does not owe a debt that is subject to offset 2 under the Treasury Offset Program, and (3) agrees to waive the requirements of the Anti- 3 Assignment Act, then the EAJA fees will be made payable to Plaintiff’ s attorney. However, if 4 there is a debt owed under the Treasury Offset Program, the Commissioner cannot agree to 5 waive the requirements of the Anti-Assignment Act, and the remaining EAJA fees after offset 6 will be paid by a check or electronic funds transfer made out to Plaintiff and delivered to 7 Plaintiff’s attorney, Maren Miller Bam, Esq., 8513 W. 9th Avenue, Kennewick, WA 99336. 8 DATED this ____10th____ day of ______January_____2022. 9 10 ____A________________ UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24