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

1 Young Cho Attorney at Law: 189870 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 Monique Mize 7 8 9 10 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 11 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 12 13 MONIQUE MIZE, ) Case No.: 2:18-cv-03202-AC ) 14 Plaintiff, ) STIPULATION AND PROPOSED ) ORDER FOR THE AWARD AND 15 vs. ) PAYMENT OF ATTORNEY FEES ) AND EXPENSES PURSUANT TO 16 ANDREW SAUL, ) THE EQUAL ACCESS TO JUSTICE Commissioner of Social Security, ) ACT, 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d) AND 17 ) COSTS PURSUANT TO 28 U.S.C. § Defendant. ) 1920 18 ) ) 19 20 TO THE HONORABLE ALLISON CLAIRE, MAGISTRATE JUDGE OF 21 THE DISTRICT COURT: 22 IT IS HEREBY STIPULATED, by and between the parties through their 23 undersigned counsel, subject to the approval of the Court, that Monique Mize be 24 awarded attorney fees in the amount of four thousand three hundred dollars 25 ($4,300.00) under the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA), 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d). 26 This amount represents compensation for all legal services rendered on behalf of 1 Plaintiff by counsel in connection with this civil action, in accordance with 28 2 U.S.C. §§ 1920; 2412(d). 3 After the Court issues an order for EAJA fees to Monique Mize, the 4 government will consider the matter of Monique Mize's assignment of EAJA fees 5 to Young Cho. The retainer agreement containing the assignment is attached as 6 exhibit 1. Pursuant to Astrue v. Ratliff, 130 S.Ct. 2521, 2529 (2010), the ability to 7 honor the assignment will depend on whether the fees are subject to any offset 8 allowed under the United States Department of the Treasury's Offset Program. 9 After the order for EAJA fees is entered, the government will determine whether 10 they are subject to any offset. 11 Fees shall be made payable to Monique Mize, but if the Department of the 12 Treasury determines that Monique Mize 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 Monique Mize.1 Any payments made shall be delivered to Young 16 Cho. 17 This stipulation constitutes a compromise settlement of Monique Mize'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 21 Monique Mize and/or Young Cho including Law Offices of Lawrence D. Rohlfing 22 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 1 This award is without prejudice to the rights of Young Cho and/or the Law 2 || Offices of Lawrence D. Rohlfing to seek Social Security Act attorney fees under 3 1142 U.S.C. § 406(b), subject to the savings clause provisions of the EAJA. 4 ||DATE: April 9, 2020 Respectfully submitted, 5 LAW OFFICES OF LAWRENCE D. ROHLFING 6 /s/ Youug Che BY: 7 Young Cho g Attorney for plaintiff Monique Mize 9 || DATE: April 9, 2020 McGREGOR W. SCOTT 10 United States Attorney 11 /s/ Marka Letellicr 12 MARLA LETELLIER 13 Special Assistant United States Attorney Attorneys for Defendant 14 ANDREW SAUL, Commissioner of Social Security (Per e-mail authorization) 15 16 17 18 ORDER 19 Approved and so ordered: 20 || DATE: April 10, 2020 ~ 21 pe ALLISON CLAIRE 09 UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 23 24 25 26 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26