Johnson v. Social Security Administration Commissioner

Filing 21

ORDER denying 18 Motion for Attorney Fees. Signed by Honorable Barry A. Bryant on August 10, 2015. (mll)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
WESTERN DISTRICT OF ARKANSAS
TEXARKANA DIVISION
CHARLES RANDEL JOHNSON, SR.
vs.

PLAINTIFF

Civil No. 4:14-cv-04134

CAROLYN W. COLVIN
Commissioner, Social Security Administration

DEFENDANT

ORDER
Before the Court is Plaintiff’s Motion for Attorney Fees under the EAJA. ECF No. 18.
Plaintiff filed this Motion on August 4, 2015. Id. Defendant responded to this Motion on August
7, 2015 and claims this Motion should be denied as premature because the time to appeal the
judgment in this matter has not yet expired. ECF No. 20. Defendant did not respond to the merits
of Plaintiff’s Motion because she claims this Motion is premature. Id.
The judgment is this action was entered on June 22, 2015, and Defendant is correct that the
judgment in this case may still be appealed by the U.S. Government. See FED. R. APP. P. 4(a)(1)(B)
(permitting the U.S. Government sixty days to appeal a judgment). Further, an EAJA application
should not be filed until this judgment is final and the time to appeal has expired. See Melkonyan
v. Sullivan, 501 U.S. 89, 102 (1991).
Accordingly, this Motion is DENIED without prejudice to refiling. Plaintiff may refile this
Motion after the Government’s time to appeal the judgment in this matter has expired. After
Plaintiff refiles this Motion, the Government will then be given the opportunity to respond to the
merits of this Motion.
ENTERED this 10th day of August 2015.
/s/ Barry A. Bryant
HON. BARRY A. BRYANT
U.S. MAGISTRATE JUDGE