1 2 3 4 5 6 7 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 8 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 9 10 ERNESTO R., Case No.: 20cv1959-MDD

11 Plaintiff,

ORDER GRANTING JOINT

12 v. MOTION FOR THE AWARD AND

PAYMENT OF ATTORNEY FEES

13 KILOLO KIJAKAZI, Acting

AND EXPENSES PURSUANT TO

Commissioner of Social Security, 14 THE EQUAL ACCESS TO Defendant. JUSTICE ACT, 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d) 15

AND COSTS PURSUANT TO 28

16 U.S.C. § 1920

17 [ECF No. 15] 18

19 20 On October 5, 2020, Plaintiff Ernesto R. filed this social security appeal 21 challenging the denial of his application for disability insurance benefits. 22 (ECF No. 1). On October 29, 2021, the Court granted the parties’ joint 23 motion for voluntary remand pursuant to sentence four of 42 U.S.C. § 405(g). 24 (ECF No. 13). The parties now stipulate to an award to Plaintiff of attorneys’ 25 fees and expenses in the amount of $5,400.00 under the Equal Access to 26 Justice Act (“EAJA”), 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d). (ECF No. 15 at 1). 1 || United States within thirty days of final judgment. 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d). “A 9 ||sentence four remand becomes final judgment, for purposes of attorneys’ fees 3 ||claims brought pursuant to the EAJA, 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d), upon expiration of 4 ||the time for appeal.” Akopyan v. Barnhart, 296 F.3d 852, 854 (9th Cir. 2002). 5 || If one of the parties is the United States, either party may file a notice of 6 appeal within sixty days of the order appealed from. See Fed. R. App. 7 ||4(a)(1)(B). “A plaintiff who obtains a sentence four remand is considered a 8 || prevailing party for purposes of attorneys’ fees.” Akopyan, 296 F.3d at 854. 9 || Therefore, Plaintiff is the prevailing party in this action for purposes of 10 attorney’s fees, the parties’ joint motion is timely, and the Court finds the 11 stipulated amount of fees and expenses reasonable. 12 Accordingly, the Court GRANTS the joint motion and AWARDS 13 || Plaintiff attorney’s fees and expenses in the total amount of $5,400.00. Fees 14 || will be made payable to Ernesto R., but if the Department of Treasury 15 ||determines that Ernesto R. does not owe a federal debt, then the government 16 || will cause the payment of fees, expenses and costs to be made directly to Law 17 || Offices of Lawrence D. Rohlfing, pursuant to the assignment executed by 18 ||Ernesto R. Any payments will be delivered to Monica Perales. 19 IT IS SO ORDERED. Dated: January 13, 2022 Mitel [> Hon. Mitchell D. Dembin 22 United States Magistrate Judge 23 24 25 26 27