Anderson v. Kijakazi

Background

Ginger Anderson and the government submitted a joint stipulation asking the court to award attorney fees and expenses under the Equal Access to Justice Act, 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d). The agreed amount was $5,990. The parties stipulated that no costs would be awarded under 28 U.S.C. § 1920.

The stipulation states that the amount covers all legal services provided for Anderson in connection with the action. It also states that the agreement is a compromise of Anderson’s fee request and is not an admission that the government was liable under the Equal Access to Justice Act or otherwise.

Payment Terms

The fees were to be made payable to Anderson. After the fee order, the government would determine whether the fees were subject to an offset through the Treasury Department’s debt-offset program. If the government determined that Anderson did not owe a federal debt, it would arrange for payment directly to her attorney, Francesco Benavides, under Anderson’s assignment of the fees.

The stipulation provides that payment of the agreed amount would fully release and bar claims relating to Equal Access to Justice Act fees in this action. It also says the award does not affect Benavides’s right to seek attorney fees under 42 U.S.C. § 406(b), subject to the Equal Access to Justice Act’s savings-clause requirements.

Ruling

Judge Nathanael M. Cousins ordered that fees and expenses of $5,990 be awarded under 28 U.S.C. § 2412, subject to the terms of the parties’ stipulation. The opinion addresses the fee award and does not state the outcome of the underlying Social Security dispute.