1 || HARVEY P. SACKETT (72488) 2 AND ASSOCIATES 3 A PROFESSIONAL LAW CORP. 4 ||548 Market Street, Suite 38822 San Francisco, California 94104-5401 5 || Telephone: (408) 295-7755 Facsimile: (408) 295-7444 © || Email: [email protected] 7 Attorney for Plaintiff 8 || HPS/as 9 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 10 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 11 SAN FRANCISCO DIVISION 12 |)/MICHAEL S. BERNARD, ) Case No.: 3:21-cv-09288-SK ) 13 Plaintiff, ) STIPULATION AND ORDER FOR 14 THE AWARD AND PAYMENT V. ) OF ATTORNEY FEES 15 ) | PURSUANT TO THE EQUAL 16 ) ACCESS TO JUSTICE ACT, 28 KILOLO KUAKAZI, ) U.S.C. § 24124) 17 || Acting Commissioner of Social Security, 18 Defendant. 19 —) 20 On August 31, 2023, this Court issued an order reversing the final decision of the 21 || Defendant, Kilolo Kijakazi, the Acting Commissioner of Social Security (Commissioner), with 22 ||a remand for a rehearing,

(g) (sentence four); judgment was entered. || ———_ i —x—— 24 |! Kilolo Kijakazi became the Acting Commissioner of Social Security on July 9, 2021. Pursuant to 5 Rule 25(d)(1) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Kilolo Kijakazi should be substituted, therefore, for Commissioner Andrew Saul as Defendant in this suit. No further action need be taken to continue 26 this suit by reason of the last sentence of section 205(g) of the Social Security Act,

(g). 27 28

LAW CORP. STIPULATION AND ORDER FOR THE AWARD AND PAYMENT OF ATTORNEY FEES treet, Suite 38822. | PURSUANT TO THE EQUAL ACCESS TO JUSTICE ACT,

(d)

1 In the interest of administrative and judicial economy, the parties have agreed to 2 || stipulate that an award of FIVE THOUSAND EIGHT HUNDRED FIFTY DOLLARS AND 3 ||ZERO CENTS ($5,850.00) in attorney fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA), 28 4 NULS.C. § 2412(d), is reasonable. This award is without prejudice to Plaintiff’s right to seek 5 attorney’s fees under section 206(b) of the Social Security Act,

(b), subject to © || the offset provisions of the EAJA. However, this award shall constitute a complete release 7 |) from and bar to any claims Plaintiff and/or Harvey P. Sackett, including Sackett and 8 || Associates may have relating to EAJA fees and costs. This stipulation constitutes a 9 compromise settlement of Plaintiff’s request for EAJA attorney fees, and does not constitute an 10 || admission of liability on the part of Defendant under the EAJA or otherwise. Further, such 11 || award shall not be used as precedent in any future cases, nor be construed as a concession by 12 |! the Commissioner that the original administrative decision denying benefits to Plaintiff was not 13 substantially justified. 14 After the Court issues an order for EAJA fees to Plaintiff, the Government will 15 || consider the matter of Plaintiff's assignment of EAJA fees to Harvey P. Sackett (“Counsel”). 16 || Pursuant to Astrue v. Ratliff,

(2010), the ability to honor an assignment will 17 depend on whether the fees are subject to any offset allowed under the United States 18 Department of the Treasury’s Offset Program. After the order for EAJA is entered, the 19 || Government will determine whether they are subject to offset. Fees shall be made payable to 20 || Plaintiff, but if the Department of Treasury determines Plaintiff does not owe a federal debt, 21 || then the Government shall cause the payment of fees, expenses, and costs to be made payable 22 directly to Counsel, pursuant to the assignment executed by Plaintiff. Any payments made shall 23 || be delivered and made payable to Counsel. 24 Accordingly, pending any Ratliff offset, Defendant agrees to pay Plaintiff $5,850.00 in 25 attorney’s fees. Defendant shall also reimburse Plaintiff $402.00 in costs for the filing fee to 26 || commence this action. 27 28 ° LAW CORP. STIPULATION AND ORDER FOR THE AWARD AND PAYMENT OF ATTORNEY FEES Street, Suite 38822 |! DURSUANT TO THE EQUAL ACCESS TO JUSTICE ACT,

(d)

1 All parties whose signature lines appear in this document have consented to its filing. 2 || This award is without prejudice to the rights of Sackett and Associates and/or Harvey P. 3 || Sackett to seek Social Security Act attorney fees under

(b), subject to the 4 savings clause provisions of the EAJA. 5 6 || Dated: November 16, 2023 SACKETT AND ASSOCIATES 7 By: /s/ HARVEY P. SACKETT 8 HARVEY P. SACKETT Attorney for Plaintiff MICHAEL S. BERNARD 10 11 |! Dated: November 16, 2023 ISMAIL J. RAMSEY 12 United States Attorney 13 By: /s/MARY C. TSAI 14 MARY C. TSAI Special Assistant United States Attorney 15 Attorney for Defendant [*As authorized by email on 11/16/23] 16 ORDER 17 The Court GRANTS the parties’ stipulation. The parties are admonished that they are 18 required to email their proposed orders in Microsoft Word format to [email protected]. 19 20 IT IS SO ORDERED. 21 22 93. || Dated: November 20, 2023 ° i 4 . 24 GON. SALLIE KIM United States Magistrate Judge 25 26 27 28 ° LAW CORP. STIPULATION AND [PROPOSED] ORDER FOR THE AWARD AND PAYMENT OF ATTORNEY Street, Suite 38822. | FEES PURSUANT TO THE EQUAL ACCESS TO JUSTICE ACT,

(d)