Martell v. Andrew Saul
- Robert Illman
- 1:20-cv-03881
- U.S. District Court · Northern District of California
- 3
In Martell v. Saul, Judge Illman approved the parties’ $860.75 Equal Access to Justice Act attorney-fee stipulation.
Raul Martell was awarded $860.75 in attorney fees. The payment may be made directly to Harvey P. Sackett if the Treasury Department determines that Martell does not owe a federal debt. The Commissioner of Social Security and the government are responsible for the payment under the approved stipulation.
What happened
In Martell v. Andrew Saul, the court had previously reversed the Commissioner of Social Security’s decision and sent the case back for a new hearing. The parties later agreed that $860.75 in attorney fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act was reasonable.
The court approved the agreement and ordered the government to pay Raul Martell $860.75. Payment could later be made directly to his lawyer if the Treasury Department found that Martell did not owe a federal debt. The agreement preserved the right to seek additional fees under the Social Security Act and did not concede that the original benefits decision lacked substantial justification.
Judge Robert M. Illman entered the order on May 24, 2021.
The detailed version
- Martell v. Andrew Saul · No. 1:20-cv-03881
- Robert Illman
- May 24, 2021
Background
The court’s order concerned attorney fees, not the underlying Social Security benefits decision. The opinion states that on February 22, 2021, the court reversed the Commissioner of Social Security’s final decision and remanded the case for a rehearing under 42 U.S.C. § 405(g), sentence four. Judgment was entered.
Fee Agreement
The parties stipulated that $860.75 in attorney fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA), 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d), was reasonable. The agreement stated that the award was not a precedent for future cases and was not a concession by the Commissioner that the original administrative decision denying benefits was not substantially justified.
The award was to be payable to Raul Martell. Under the agreement, the government would first determine whether the fees were subject to an offset through the Treasury Department’s debt-offset program. If no federal debt prevented payment, the government would make the payment directly to Harvey P. Sackett under Martell’s assignment of the fees. The agreement preserved the right of Sackett and Sackett and Associates to seek fees under 42 U.S.C. § 406(b), subject to the EAJA’s offset or savings provisions.
Ruling
Judge Robert M. Illman ordered: “Pursuant to the stipulation, IT IS SO ORDERED.” The court therefore approved the stipulated $860.75 EAJA attorney-fee award.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.