George v. Saul
- Vince Chhabria
- 3:19-cv-08320
- U.S. District Court · Northern District of California
- 3
In George v. Saul, Judge Chhabria approved a $10,000 attorney-fee settlement under the Equal Access to Justice Act and awarded no costs.
Tiara Lanae George and her counsel, Bay Area Legal Aid, received an approved $10,000 attorney-fee award and no costs; the government must process payment subject to any federal-debt offset.
What happened
George v. Saul involved the plaintiff’s request for attorney fees and costs after this Social Security case. The parties agreed to settle the fee request.
The court approved an award of $10,000 in attorney fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act and zero dollars in costs. The agreement did not admit that the defendant was liable.
Judge Chhabria ordered the settlement approved. The payment would generally be made to the plaintiff, with possible direct payment to Bay Area Legal Aid if the Treasury Department found no federal debt offset.
The detailed version
- George v. Saul · No. 3:19-cv-08320
- Vince Chhabria
- Nov. 10, 2020
Background
The parties submitted a stipulation—a written agreement—asking the court to approve a settlement of the plaintiff’s request for attorney fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act and for costs under 28 U.S.C. § 1920. The agreement covered legal services provided by the plaintiff’s counsel in this action.
Agreement
The parties agreed that the plaintiff would receive $10,000 in attorney fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act and zero dollars in costs. The settlement did not admit liability by the defendant under that statute. Payment of the agreed amount would release and bar claims by the plaintiff or her counsel concerning Equal Access to Justice Act fees in this action.
The fees were to be payable to the plaintiff. The government would check whether the fees were subject to an offset for a federal debt. If there were no such debt, the government would arrange for payment directly to Bay Area Legal Aid under any assignment signed by the plaintiff. The agreement stated that it did not prevent counsel from seeking fees under 42 U.S.C. § 406(b), although Bay Area Legal Aid waived its right to seek those fees.
Ruling
Judge Vince Chhabria approved the stipulation and proposed order. The opinion is limited to the attorney-fee and cost settlement and does not describe or decide the underlying Social Security dispute.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.