UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF NORTH CAROLINA ASHEVILLE DIVISION DOCKET NO. 5:21-cv-136-MOC

TANIA HUFFMAN VALLE, ) ) ) ) vs. ) ORDER ) ) KILOLO KIJAKAZI, ) Acting Commissioner of Social Security ) ) Defendant. )

THIS MATTER is before the Court on Plaintiff’s Consent Motion for Fees Pursuant to the Equal Access to Justice Act

(d)(1)(A) filed on July 1, 2022. (Doc. No. 15). The Court determines that Plaintiff should be awarded an attorney’s fee under the Equal Access to Justice Act (“EAJA”),

(d), in the amount of $10,000.00. IT IS, THEREFORE, ORDERED that the Plaintiff’s Motion for Fees Under the Equal Access to Justice Act

(d)(1)(A), (Doc. No. 15) is GRANTED, to the extent that the Court will award attorney fees in the amount of $10,000.00, and that pursuant to Astrue v. Ratliff,

(2010), the fee award will first be subject to offset of any debt Plaintiff may owe to the United States. The Commissioner will determine whether Plaintiff owes a debt to the United States. If so, the debt will be satisfied first, and if any funds remain, they will be made payable to Plaintiff and mailed to Plaintiff’s counsel. If the United States Department of the Treasury reports to the Commissioner that the Plaintiff does not owe a federal debt, the government will exercise its discretion and honor an assignment of EAJA fees and pay the awarded fees directly to Plaintiffs counsel. No additional petition pursuant to

(d) shall be filed.

Signed: July 20, 2022

evrnna Max O. Cogburn i United States District Judge he