1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 ANGELICA D., Case No.: 20-cv-1055-MMA (NLS) 11 ORDER GRANTING JOINT 12 Plaintiff, MOTION FOR ATTORNEY’S FEES v. 13 [Doc. No. 23] ANDREW SAUL, Commissioner of 14 Social Security, 15 Defendant. 16

17 18 On June 9, 2020, Angelica D. (“Plaintiff”) filed this social security appeal 19 challenging the denial of her application for disability benefits. See Doc. No. 1. The 20 Court referred all matters arising in this social security appeal to the assigned Magistrate 21 Judge for report and recommendation pursuant to

(b)(1)(B) and Civil 22 Local Rule 72.1. See Doc. No. 8. Thereafter, the parties timely filed the administrative 23 record and Plaintiff filed her merits brief. See Doc. Nos. 15, 19. 24 On April 23, 2021, the parties filed a joint motion to remand the matter to the 25 Social Security Administration pursuant to sentence four of

(g) for 26 further administrative proceedings. See Doc. No. 20. The Court granted the joint 27 motion, see Doc. No. 21, and the Clerk of Court entered judgment accordingly, see Doc. 28 No. 22. The parties now jointly ask the Court to award Plaintiff $3,000 in attorney’s fees 1 || pursuant to the Equal Access to Justice Act (“EAJA”),

(d), and no costs 2 |}under

. See Doc. No. 23. 3 The EAJA allows a prevailing party to seek attorney’s fees from the United States 4 || within thirty days of final judgment. See

(d). “A sentence four remand 5 || becomes a final judgment, for purposes of attorneys’ fees claims brought pursuant to the 6 || EAJA,

(d), upon expiration of the time for appeal.” Akopyan v. 7 || Barnhart,

(9th Cir. 2002) (citing Shalala v. Schaefer,

(1993)); see also

(d)(2)(G); Melkonyan vy. Sullivan,

, 9 || 102 (1991) (“In sentence four cases, the filing period begins after the final judgment . . . 10 entered by the court and the appeal period has run, so that the judgment is no longer 11 ||appealable.”). If one of the parties is the United States, either party may file a notice of 12 || appeal within sixty days of the order appealed from. See Fed. R. App. P. 4(a)(1)(B). “A 13 || plaintiff who obtains a sentence four remand is considered a prevailing party for purposes 14 || of attorneys’ fees.” Akopyan,

(citing Shalala,

). 15 Here, the Court finds that Plaintiff is the prevailing party in this action for purposes 16 || of attorney’s fees, the parties’ joint motion 1s timely, and the stipulated amount of fees is 17 ||reasonable. Accordingly, the Court GRANTS the parties’ joint motion for attorney’s 18 || fees and AWARDS Plaintiff $3,000 pursuant to the EAJA. 19 IT IS SO ORDERED. 20 || Dated: June 22, 2021 21 Miku lM Lbikter 22 HON. MICHAEL M. ANELLO 33 United States District Judge 24 25 26 27 28