1 PHILLIP A. TALBERT United States Attorney 2 MATHEW W. PILE Associate General Counsel 3 Office of Program Litigation, Office 7 MARGARET BRANICK-ABILLA (CABN 223600) 4 Special Assistant United States Attorney 5 Office of Program Litigation, Office 7 Office of the General Counsel 6 Social Security Administration 6401 Security Boulevard 7 Baltimore, MD 21235 Telephone: (510) 970-4809 8 Email: [email protected] 9 Attorneys for Defendant 10 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 12 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 13 CRAIG MATHEWS, Civil No. 2:24-cv-00750-CKD 14 Plaintiff, 15 STIPULATION AND ORDER FOR THE vs. AWARD AND PAYMENT OF ATTORNEY 16 FEES PURSUANT TO THE EQUAL ACCESS 17 COMMISSIONER OF SOCIAL SECURITY, TO JUSTICE ACT,

(d)

18 Defendant.

19 20 IT IS HEREBY STIPULATED by and between the parties, through their undersigned 21 counsel, subject to the approval of the Court, that Plaintiff be awarded attorney fees in the 22 amount of EIGHT THOUSAND, ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS AND ZERO CENTS 23 ($8,100.00) under the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA),

(d). This amount 24 represents compensation for all legal services rendered on behalf of Plaintiff by counsel in connection with this civil action, in accordance with

(d). 25 After the Court issues an order for EAJA fees to Plaintiff, the government will consider 26 the matter of Plaintiff’s assignment of EAJA fees to counsel Jared Walker (Counsel). Pursuant 27 to Astrue v. Ratliff,

(2010), the ability to honor the assignment will depend on 28 1 whether the fees are subject to any offset allowed under the United States Department of the 2 Treasury’s Offset Program. After the order for EAJA fees is entered, the government will 3 determine whether they are subject to any offset. 4 Fees shall be made payable to Plaintiff, but if the Department of the Treasury determines 5 that Plaintiff does not owe a federal debt, then the government shall cause the payment of fees to 6 be made directly to Counsel, pursuant to the assignment executed by Plaintiff. Any payments 7 made shall be delivered to Counsel. 8 This stipulation constitutes a compromise settlement of Plaintiff’s request for EAJA attorney fees, and does not constitute an admission of liability on the part of Defendant under the 9 EAJA or otherwise. Payment of the agreed amount shall constitute a complete release from, and 10 bar to, any and all claims that Plaintiff and/or Counsel, including Counsel’s law firm and any 12 associates, may have relating to EAJA attorney fees in connection with this action. 13 This award is without prejudice to the rights of Counsel to seek Social Security Act 14 attorney fees under

(b), subject to the savings clause provisions of the EAJA. 15 Respectfully submitted, 16 Dated: January 10, 2025 LAW OFFICE OF JARED T. WALKER, PC 17

18 By: /s/ Jared Walker* JARED WALKER 19 Attorney for Plaintiff [*As authorized by e-mail on Jan. 10, 2025] 20 Dated: January 14, 2025 PHILLIP A. TALBERT 21 United States Attorney 22 MATHEW W. PILE Associate General Counsel 23 Office of Program Litigation, Office 7

24 By: /s/ Margaret Branick-Abilla 25 MARGARET BRANICK-ABILLA Special Assistant United States Attorney 26 Attorneys for Defendant 27

28 | ORDER 2 3 |] Pursuant to the parties’ stipulation, plaintiff's motion for attorney fees (ECF No. 22) is DENIED 4 || AS MOOT and the stipulation (ECF No. 24) is GRANTED. IT IS SO ORDERED. 5 || Dated: January 14, 2025 ( aie } ht | Lz (g—, 6 CAROLYN K. DELANEY 7 UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 8 9 10 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28