(SS) Pugh v. Commissioner of Social Security ( 2019 )

1 Lawrence D. Rohlfing Attorney at Law: 119433 2 Law Offices of Lawrence D. Rohlfing 12631 East Imperial Highway, Suite C-115 3 Santa Fe Springs, CA 90670 Tel.: (562) 868-5886 4 Fax: (562) 868-8868 E-mail: rohlfing.office@rohlfinglaw.com 5 Attorneys for Plaintiff 6 Tonie M. Pugh 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 TONIE M. PUGH, ) Case No.: 2:18-cv-01607-KJN ) 12 Plaintiff, ) STIPULATION AND ORDER FOR ) THE AWARD AND PAYMENT OF 13 vs. ) ATTORNEY FEES AND EXPENSES ) PURSUANT TO THE EQUAL 14 ANDREW SAUL, ) ACCESS TO JUSTICE ACT, 28 U.S.C. Commissioner of Social Security, ) § 2412(d) AND COSTS PURSUANT 15 ) TO 28 U.S.C. § 1920 Defendant. ) 16 ) ) 17 18 TO THE HONORABLE KENDALL J. NEWMAN, MAGISTRATE 19 JUDGE OF THE DISTRICT COURT: 20 IT IS HEREBY STIPULATED, by and between the parties through their 21 undersigned counsel, subject to the approval of the Court, that Tonie M. Pugh be 22 awarded attorney fees and expenses in the amount of three thousand eight hundred 23 dollars ($3,800.00) under the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA), 28 U.S.C. § 24 2412(d), and costs in the amount of four hundred dollars ($400.00) under 28 25 U.S.C. § 1920. This amount represents compensation for all legal services 26 1 rendered on behalf of Plaintiff by counsel in connection with this civil action, in 2 accordance with 28 U.S.C. §§ 1920; 2412(d). 3 After the Court issues an order for EAJA fees to Tonie M. Pugh, the 4 government will consider the matter of Tonie M. Pugh's assignment of EAJA fees 5 to Lawrence D. Rohlfing. The retainer agreement containing the assignment is 6 attached as exhibit 1. Pursuant to Astrue v. Ratliff, 130 S. Ct. 2521, 2529 (2010), 7 the ability to honor the assignment will depend on whether the fees are subject to 8 any offset allowed under the United States Department of the Treasury's Offset 9 Program. After the order for EAJA fees is entered, the government will determine 10 whether they are subject to any offset. 11 Fees shall be made payable to Tonie M. Pugh, but if the Department of the 12 Treasury determines that Tonie M. Pugh does not owe a federal debt, then the 13 government shall cause the payment of fees, expenses and costs to be made 14 directly to Law Offices of Lawrence D. Rohlfing, pursuant to the assignment 15 executed by Tonie M. Pugh.1 Any payments made shall be delivered to Lawrence 16 D. Rohlfing. 17 This stipulation constitutes a compromise settlement of Tonie M. Pugh's 18 request for EAJA attorney fees and does not constitute an admission of liability on 19 the part of Defendant under the EAJA or otherwise. Payment of the agreed amount 20 shall constitute a complete release from, and bar to, any and all claims that Tonie 21 M. Pugh and/or Lawrence D. Rohlfing including Law Offices of Lawrence D. 22 Rohlfing may have relating to EAJA attorney fees in connection with this action. 23 24 25 1 The parties do not stipulate whether counsel for the plaintiff has a cognizable lien under federal law against the recovery of EAJA fees that survives the Treasury 26 ] This award is without prejudice to the rights of Lawrence D. Rohlfing and/or 2 || the Law Offices of Lawrence D. Rohlfing to seek Social Security Act attorney fees 3 under 42 U.S.C. § 406(b), subject to the savings clause provisions of the EAJA. 4 ||DATE: September 27, 2019 Respectfully submitted, 5 LAW OFFICES OF LAWRENCE D. ROHLFING 6 /S/ Laurence D. Rollfing BY: 7 Lawrence D. Rohlfing 8 Attorney for plaintiff Tonie M. Pugh 9 || DATED: September 27, 2019 MCGREGOR W. SCOTT 10 United States Attorney 11 Elléaor Coder 12 □□ ELLINOR CODER 13 Special Assistant United States Attorney Attorneys for Defendant 14 ANDREW M. SAUL, Commissioner of Social Security (Per e-mail authorization) 15 16 17 18 ORDER 19 Approved and so ordered: 20 ||Dated: October 7, 2019 21 Ke Af Noreen KENDALL J. □□□ 22 UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE pugh.160 23 24 25 26