Mills v. Saul
- Haywood Gilliam
- 4:20-cv-02333
- U.S. District Court · Northern District of California
- 3
In Mills v. Saul, Judge Gilliam approved $1,786.91 in attorney fees and $400 in costs under the parties’ agreement.
Rebekah Mills and her counsel receive the stipulated fee and cost award, subject to any federal-debt offset and the payment terms; the Commissioner of Social Security and the government are responsible for processing payment under the order.
What happened
In Mills v. Saul, Rebekah Mills and the Commissioner of Social Security agreed that Mills should receive attorney fees and costs for work in this case. The agreement requested $1,786.91 in fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act and $400 in costs.
The agreement says the amounts are payable to Mills. If the Treasury Department finds that Mills does not owe a federal debt, the government will arrange for the fee payment to go directly to her law firm under her assignment. The agreement also says it settles all claims for fees and expenses in this case, without the government admitting liability, and does not prevent counsel from later seeking fees under another Social Security law.
Judge Haywood S. Gilliam, Jr. ordered the parties’ agreement into effect on March 4, 2021. The court’s order concerned only attorney fees and costs, not the underlying Social Security claim.
The detailed version
- Mills v. Saul · No. 4:20-cv-02333
- Haywood Gilliam
- Mar. 4, 2021
Background
Rebekah Mills, represented by John David Metsker and the Metsker Law Firm, and Andrew Saul, identified as Commissioner of Social Security, submitted a stipulation concerning attorney fees and costs in this civil action. The parties agreed that Mills should receive $1,786.91 in attorney fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA), 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d), and $400 in costs under 28 U.S.C. § 1920.
Agreement and payment terms
The stipulation states that the amounts compensate all legal services and costs incurred by counsel for Mills in connection with the action to that date. It provides that fees and expenses are payable to Mills. After the fee order, the government may determine whether the payment is subject to an offset under the Treasury Department’s Offset Program because of a federal debt. If Treasury determines that Mills does not owe such a debt, the government will arrange for the fee payment to be made directly to the Metsker Law Firm under Mills’s assignment.
The parties described the stipulation as a compromise settlement of Mills’s request for EAJA fees and expenses. Payment of the agreed amount would fully release and bar claims by Mills or her counsel relating to EAJA fees and expenses in this action. The stipulation states that the settlement is not an admission by the defendant that he is liable under the EAJA. It also preserves counsel’s ability to seek attorney fees under 42 U.S.C. § 406, subject to the EAJA’s offset provisions.
Ruling
Judge Haywood S. Gilliam, Jr. ordered the parties’ stipulation into effect on March 4, 2021. The order awarded the agreed $1,786.91 in EAJA attorney fees and $400 in costs. The opinion does not decide the underlying Social Security dispute; it addresses the stipulated fee and cost award.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.