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

1 Cyrus Safa Attorney at Law: 282971 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 Curtis E. Smith 7 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 8 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 9 10 CURTIS E. SMITH, ) Case No.: 2:18-cv-02757-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 Curtis E. Smith be 21 awarded attorney fees in the amount of two thousand five hundred dollars 22 ($2,500.00) under the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA), 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d). 23 This amount represents compensation for all legal services rendered on behalf of 24 Plaintiff by counsel in connection with this civil action, in accordance with 28 25 U.S.C. §§ 1920; 2412(d). 26 1 After the Court issues an order for EAJA fees to Curtis E. Smith, the 2 government will consider the matter of Curtis E. Smith's assignment of EAJA fees 3 to Cyrus Safa. The retainer agreement containing the assignment is attached as 4 exhibit 1. Pursuant to Astrue v. Ratliff, 130 S.Ct. 2521, 2529 (2010), the ability to 5 honor the assignment will depend on whether the fees are subject to any offset 6 allowed under the United States Department of the Treasury's Offset Program. 7 After the order for EAJA fees is entered, the government will determine whether 8 they are subject to any offset. 9 Fees shall be made payable to Curtis E. Smith, but if the Department of the 10 Treasury determines that Curtis E. Smith 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 Curtis E. Smith.1 Any payments made shall be delivered to Cyrus 14 Safa. 15 This stipulation constitutes a compromise settlement of Curtis E. Smith'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 Curtis 19 E. Smith and/or Cyrus Safa including Law Offices of Lawrence D. Rohlfing may 20 have relating to EAJA attorney fees in connection with this action. 21 /// 22 /// 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 2.10 UV OPW MVUULTIOCIIL ot VMVIVey rPaye v viv 1 This award is without prejudice to the rights of Cyrus Safa 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: May 27, 2020 Respectfully submitted, 5 LAW OFFICES OF LAWRENCE D. ROHLFING 6 /s/ Conus Safa BY: 7 Cyrus Safa g Attorney for plaintiff Curtis E. Smith 9 DATED:May 27, 2020 McGREGOR W. SCOTT 10 United States Attorney 11 /s/ Absim Modi 12 ASIM MODI 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: June 1, 2020 ~ 21 Ahan —Chone ALLISON CLAIRE 22 UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 23 24 25 26