Savage v. Berryhill
- Robert Illman
- 1:18-cv-07151
- U.S. District Court · Northern District of California
- 3
Savage v. Saul: Judge Illman awarded $5,000 in Equal Access to Justice Act fees under the parties’ stipulation.
Rahamон Waking Savage and Savage’s attorney are affected by the $5,000 EAJA award and its payment terms; the Commissioner must process payment subject to the stipulation and any permitted federal-debt offset.
What happened
In Rahamon Waking Savage v. Andrew Saul, the parties asked the court to approve an agreement awarding fees and costs to Savage’s attorney for work in the Social Security case.
The agreement set the award at $5,000 under the Equal Access to Justice Act, a law allowing certain fees for parties who prevail against the government. It also addressed payment, possible government debt offsets, and the attorney’s potential request for separate fees under another Social Security law.
Judge Robert M. Illman approved the stipulation and ordered that Savage receive $5,000 in fees, subject to the agreement’s terms.
The detailed version
- Savage v. Berryhill · No. 1:18-cv-07151
- Robert Illman
- June 10, 2020
Background
The parties submitted a stipulation, meaning an agreement presented for court approval, concerning attorney’s fees and costs in this Social Security case. The agreement provided that Savage’s counsel, as Savage’s assignee, would receive $5,000 under the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA), citing 28 U.S.C. §§ 1920 and 2412(d). The agreement stated that the payment would resolve all EAJA fee, expense, and cost claims connected with the action and did not admit government liability.
Payment Terms
The stipulation stated that the Commissioner would consider Savage’s assignment of the fees to counsel after the court entered an award. Payment would be made payable to Savage. If the Treasury Department determined that Savage did not owe a federal debt subject to an offset, the Commissioner would arrange for payment directly to counsel under the assignment. The agreement also preserved counsel’s right to seek fees under 42 U.S.C. § 406(b), subject to the EAJA’s provisions preventing an improper duplicate recovery.
Ruling
Judge Robert M. Illman approved the parties’ stipulation and ordered that Savage be awarded $5,000 in attorney’s fees under the EAJA, subject to the stipulation’s terms. The opinion is limited to the fee award and does not decide the underlying Social Security dispute.
Disposition
The court ordered the $5,000 EAJA fee award. This is an ancillary fee ruling rather than a decision on the underlying merits.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.