(SS) Dunton v. Commissioner of Social Security ( 2020 )

1 Matthew F. Holmberg Attorney at Law: 321167 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 Patricia Dunton 7 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 8 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 9 10 PATRICIA DUNTON, ) Case No.: 2:19-cv-00927-AC 11 ) Plaintiff, ) STIPULATION AND PROPOSED 12 ) ORDER FOR THE AWARD AND vs. ) PAYMENT OF ATTORNEY FEES 13 ) AND EXPENSES PURSUANT TO ANDREW SAUL, ) THE EQUAL ACCESS TO JUSTICE 14 Commissioner of Social Security, ) ACT, 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d) AND ) COSTS PURSUANT TO 28 U.S.C. § 15 Defendant. ) 1920 ) 16 ) 17 TO THE HONORABLE ALLISON CLAIRE, MAGISTRATE JUDGE OF 18 THE DISTRICT COURT: 19 IT IS HEREBY STIPULATED, by and between the parties through their 20 undersigned counsel, subject to the approval of the Court, that Patricia Dunton be 21 awarded attorney fees in the amount of two thousand eight hundred eighty-five 22 dollars and sixty cents ($2,885.60) under the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA), 23 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d). This amount represents compensation for all legal services 24 rendered on behalf of Plaintiff by counsel in connection with this civil action, in 25 accordance with 28 U.S.C. §§ 1920; 2412(d). 26 1 After the Court issues an order for EAJA fees to Patricia Dunton, the 2 government will consider the matter of Patricia Dunton's assignment of EAJA fees 3 to Matthew F. Holmberg. The retainer agreement containing the assignment is 4 attached as exhibit 1. Pursuant to Astrue v. Ratliff, 130 S.Ct. 2521, 2529 (2010), 5 the ability to honor the assignment will depend on whether the fees are subject to 6 any offset allowed under the United States Department of the Treasury's Offset 7 Program. After the order for EAJA fees is entered, the government will determine 8 whether they are subject to any offset. 9 Fees shall be made payable to Patricia Dunton, but if the Department of the 10 Treasury determines that Patricia Dunton does not owe a federal debt, then the 11 government shall cause the payment of fees, expenses and costs to be made 12 directly to Law Offices of Lawrence D. Rohlfing, pursuant to the assignment 13 executed by Patricia Dunton.1 Any payments made shall be delivered to Matthew 14 F. Holmberg. 15 This stipulation constitutes a compromise settlement of Patricia Dunton's 16 request for EAJA attorney fees, and does not constitute an admission of liability on 17 the part of Defendant under the EAJA or otherwise. Payment of the agreed amount 18 shall constitute a complete release from, and bar to, any and all claims that Patricia 19 Dunton and/or Matthew F. Holmberg including Law Offices of Lawrence D. 20 Rohlfing may have relating to EAJA attorney fees in connection with this action. 21 This award is without prejudice to the rights of Matthew F. Holmberg and/or 22 the Law Offices of Lawrence D. Rohlfing to seek Social Security Act attorney fees 23 under 42 U.S.C. § 406(b), subject to the savings clause provisions of the EAJA. 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 1 ||} DATE: March 3, 2020 Respectfully submitted, 2 LAW OFFICES OF LAWRENCE D. ROHLFING 3 /s/ Matthew F. Holuberg 4 BY: Matthew F. Holmberg 5 Attorney for plaintiff Patricia Dunton 6 || DATED:March 3, 2020 McGREGOR W. SCOTT 7 United States Attorney 8 . /s/ Patrick W. Suyder 9 □□ PATRICK W. SNYDER 10 Special Assistant United States Attorney Attorneys for Defendant 11 ANDREW SAUL, Commissioner of Social Security (Per e-mail authorization) 12 13 14 15 ORDER 16 Approved and so ordered: 17 || DATE: March 4, 2020 ~ 18 Atttarr—Chore ALLISON CLAIRE 19 UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 20 21 22 23 24 25 26