1 Jonathan O. Peña, Esq. 2 CA Bar ID No.: 278044 Peña & Bromberg, PLC 3 2440 Tulare St., Ste. 320 4 Fresno, CA 93721 Telephone: 559-439-9700 5 Facsimile: 559-439-9723 6 Email: [email protected] Attorney for Plaintiff, Eric Joseph Ramsey 7

8 9 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 10 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA FRESNO DIVISION 11 12 Eric Joseph Ramsey, Case No. 2:22-cv-02296-JDP

13 Plaintiff, STIPULATION FOR THE AWARD 14 AND PAYMENT OF ATTORNEY v. FEES AND EXPENSES PURSUANT 15 TO THE EQUAL ACCESS TO 16 Martin O’Malley1, Commissioner of JUSTICE ACT; |PROPOSED| ORDER Social Security, 17 18 Defendant. 19 IT IS HEREBY STIPULATED by and between the parties through their 20 undersigned counsel, subject to the approval of the Court, that Plaintiff be awarded 21 attorney fees and expenses in the amount of EIGHT THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED 22 DOLLARS AND 00/100 ($8,500.00) under the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA), 28

(d), and costs in the amount of ZERO dollars ($0.00) under 28 U.S.C. 24 25 1 Martin O’Malley became the Commissioner of Social Security on December 26 20, 2023. Pursuant to Rule 25(d) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Martin O’Malley should be substituted for Kilolo Kijakazi as the defendant in this suit. No 27 further action need be taken to continue this suit by reason of the last sentence of section 205(g) of the Social Security Act,

(g). 1 §1920. This amount represents compensation for all legal services rendered on behalf of 2 Plaintiff by counsel in connection with this civil action, in accordance with 28 U.S.C. 3 §§ 1920, 2412(d).). Accordingly, should this Court award fees and expenses under 4 EAJA pursuant to this stipulation, Plaintiff’s motion for attorney fees (ECF 24) would 5 be moot. 6 After the Court issues an order for EAJA fees to Plaintiff, the government will 7 consider the matter of Plaintiff’s assignment of EAJA fees to counsel. Pursuant to 8 Astrue v. Ratliff,

,

,

(2010), the ability 9 to honor the assignment will depend on whether the fees are subject to any offset 10 allowed under the United States Department of the Treasury’s Offset Program. After 11 the order for EAJA fees is entered, the government will determine whether they are 12 subject to any offset. 13 Fees shall be made payable to Plaintiff, but if the Department of the Treasury 14 determines that Plaintiff does not owe a federal debt, then the government shall cause 15 the payment of fees, expenses and costs to be made directly to Counsel, pursuant to 16 the assignment executed by Plaintiff. Any payments made shall be delivered and 17 made payable to Plaintiff’s counsel, Jonathan O. Peña. Additionally, any payment of 18 costs under

may be made either by electronic fund transfer (ETF) or 19 by check. 20 This stipulation constitutes a compromise settlement of Plaintiff’s request for 21 EAJA attorney fees, and does not constitute an admission of liability on the part of 22 Defendant under the EAJA or otherwise. Payment of the agreed amount shall 23 constitute a complete release from, and bar to, any and all claims that Plaintiff and/or 24 Counsel including Counsel’s firm may have relating to EAJA attorney fees in 25 connection with this action. 26 27 1 This award is without prejudice to the rights of Counsel and/or Counsel’s firm 2 to seek Social Security Act attorney fees under

(b), subject to the 3 savings clause provisions of the EAJA. 4 Respectfully submitted, 5

6 Dated: January 11, 2024 /s/ Jonathan O. Peña 7 J ONATHAN O. PEÑA Attorney for Plaintiff 8

9 Dated: January 11, 2024 PHILLIP A. TALBERT 10 United States Attorney MATHEW W. PILE 11 Associate General Counsel 12 Office of Program Litigation Social Security Administration 13 14 By: _*_Marcelo N. Illarmo Marcelo N. Illarmo 15 Special Assistant U.S. Attorney 16 Attorneys for Defendant (*Permission to use electronic signature 17 obtained via email on Jan. 11, 2024). 18 19

20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 1 {}PROPOSED! ORDER 2 3 Based upon the parties’ Stipulation for the Award and Payment of Equal Access 4 || to Justice Act Fees and Expenses (the “Stipulation’”), 5 IT IS ORDERED that fees and expenses in the amount of EIGHT THOUSAND 6 7 | FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS AND 00/100 ($8,500.00) as authorized by the Equal 8 || Access to Justice Act (EAJA),

(d) and costs in the amount of ZERO 9 dollars ($0.00) under

, be awarded subject to the terms of the 10 11 || Stipulation. Plaintiff's motion fort attorney fees (ECF 24) is denied as moot. 12 13 IT IS SO ORDERED. 14 ( — Dated: _ January 16, 2024 15 JEREMY D. PETERSON 16 UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 -A-