Polly O. v. Kijakazi
- Eric Tostrud
- 0:20-cv-01820
- U.S. District Court · District of Minnesota
- 2
In Polly O. v. Kijakazi, Judge Tostrud granted Polly O.’s fee motion and awarded $9,655.50 plus $500 in costs.
Polly O. receives the awarded fees and costs, subject to any offset for qualifying preexisting debts owed to the United States.
What happened
In Polly O. v. Kijakazi, the court reviewed a magistrate judge’s recommendation about Polly O.’s request for attorney fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act. Neither party objected to the recommendation.
Because there were no objections, the court reviewed the recommendation for clear error, meaning an obvious mistake. The court found no clear error and accepted the recommendation.
Judge Tostrud granted the fee motion and awarded Polly O. $9,655.50 in attorney fees and $500 in costs. The award is payable to Polly O. as the litigant and may be reduced to cover qualifying debts owed to the United States.
The detailed version
- Polly O. v. Kijakazi · No. 0:20-cv-01820
- Eric Tostrud
- June 21, 2022
Background
Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Cowan Wright issued a Report and Recommendation on May 25, 2022. The recommendation addressed Polly O.’s motion for attorney fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act, a federal law that can allow a qualifying party to recover fees incurred in litigation against the United States. The opinion states that no party objected.
Court’s analysis
Because there were no objections, the district court reviewed the Report and Recommendation for clear error under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 72(b). Clear-error review asks whether the recommendation contains an obvious mistake. The court found no clear error based on the case files, records, and proceedings.
Ruling
The court accepted the Report and Recommendation and granted Polly O.’s motion for attorney fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act. It awarded $9,655.50 in attorney fees and $500 in costs from the Judgment Fund. Citing the Act and Astrue v. Ratliff, the court ordered that the fees and costs be paid to Polly O. as the litigant, subject to an offset for any preexisting debt Polly O. may owe to the United States.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.