Roberts v. Commissioner of Social Security

Opinion

1 CHIEF U.S. DISTRICT JUDGE RICARDO S. MARTINEZ

6 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON 7 AT TACOMA

8 AMBER K. ROBERTS, ) ) CIVIL NO. 3:20-cv-05780-RSM 9 Plaintiff, ) 10 ) ORDER vs. ) 11 ) COMMISSIONER OF SOCIAL SECURITY, ) 12 ) Defendant ) 13 )

14 This matter comes before the Court on the parties’ stipulated motion for attorney’s fees 15 pursuant to the Equal Access to Justice Act, 28 U.S.C. § 2412 16 The motion is timely as Plaintiff had a 60-day appeal period, plus the 30-day period in 17 §2412(d)(1)(B), from the entry of final judgment on March 18, 2021 to file a timely EAJA 18 application. Akopyan v. Barnhart, 296 F.3d 852 (9th Cir. 2002); Melkonyan v. Sullivan, 501 U.S. 19 89, 94-96 (1991); FED. R. App. P. 4(a). Furthermore, upon review of the stipulation and the 20 record, the Court determines that Plaintiff is the prevailing party, the government’s position was 21 not substantially justified, and that the itemization of attorney time spent is reasonable. In short, 22 the requirements of § 2412(d)(1)(B) are met. 23 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 $3,830.40 in attorney’s fees, subject to any offset 3 allowed under the Treasury Offset Program. See. Astrue v. Ratliff, 560 U.S. 586, 589 – 590 (2010). 4 Payment of EAJA fees shall be sent to Plaintiff’s attorney: David Oliver, David Oliver & 5 Associates, 2608 South 47th Street, Suite C, Tacoma, WA 98409. Pursuant to Ratliff, award shall 6 be payable to Plaintiff’s attorneys, David Oliver & Associates, if the Commissioner confirms that 7 Plaintiff owes no debt to the Government through the Federal Treasury Offset program. 8 For the foregoing reasons, Plaintiff’s stipulated motion for attorney fees is GRANTED. 9 10 DATED this 17th day of June, 2021. 11 12 A 13 RICARDO S. MARTINEZ 14 CHIEF UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

16 17 18 Presented by:

19 S/David P. OLIVER 20 David P. Oliver, Attorney for Plaintiff 21 David Oliver & Associates 2608 S 47th St., Suite C 22 Tacoma, WA 98409 23 Telephone 253-472-4357 Fax 253-475-4684 24 david@sslawyer.org 25 David Oliver & Associates 2608 South 47th Street, Suite C