Charles v. Social Security Administration

Background

The parties submitted a stipulation asking the court to approve an award of attorney fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act, commonly called the EAJA. The stipulation states that Toby Charles’s attorney, as Charles’s assignee, should receive $5,750 for all legal services provided in connection with this civil action. It cites 28 U.S.C. §§ 1920 and 2412(d).

Terms of the Agreement

The parties described the fee request as a compromise settlement and said it was not an admission by the Commissioner of Social Security that it was liable under the EAJA. Payment of $5,750 would fully release and bar Charles’s claims concerning EAJA fees, expenses, and costs in this action.

The agreement provides that payment will be made payable to Charles. After the fee order, the Commissioner will consider Charles’s assignment of the fees to his attorney. The assignment may be affected by an offset under the United States Department of the Treasury’s Offset Program. If the Treasury Department determines that Charles does not owe a federal debt, the Commissioner will direct payment to Charles’s attorney under the assignment. The stipulation also says the award does not prevent Charles’s attorney from seeking attorney fees under 42 U.S.C. § 406(b), subject to the EAJA’s savings-clause requirements.

Ruling

Judge Susan Van Keulen ordered that Charles be awarded $5,750 in EAJA attorney fees, subject to the terms of the parties’ stipulation. The opinion does not state the result of the underlying Social Security claim.