(SS) Thor 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 Cha Xiong Thor 7 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 8 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 9 10 CHA XIONG THOR, ) Case No.: 1:19-cv-00503-GSA ) 11 Plaintiff, ) STIPULATION AND ORDER FOR ) THE AWARD AND PAYMENT OF 12 vs. ) ATTORNEY FEES AND EXPENSES ) PURSUANT TO THE EQUAL 13 ANDREW SAUL, ) ACCESS TO JUSTICE ACT, 28 U.S.C. Commissioner of Social Security, ) § 2412(d) AND COSTS PURSUANT 14 ) TO 28 U.S.C. § 1920 Defendant. ) 15 ) ) 16 17 TO THE HONORABLE GARY S. AUSTIN, MAGISTRATE JUDGE OF THE 18 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 Cha Xiong Thor be 21 awarded attorney fees and expenses in the amount of three thousand two hundred 22 and fifty dollars ($3,250.00) under the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA), 28 23 U.S.C. § 2412(d), and no costs under 28 U.S.C. § 1920. This amount represents 24 compensation for all legal services rendered on behalf of Plaintiff by counsel in 25 connection with this civil action, in accordance with 28 U.S.C. §§ 1920; 2412(d). 26 1 After the Court issues an order for EAJA fees to Cha Xiong Thor, the 2 government will consider the matter of Cha Xiong Thor'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 Cha Xiong Thor, but if the Department of the 10 Treasury determines that Cha Xiong Thor 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 Cha Xiong Thor.1 Any payments made shall be delivered to Matthew 14 F. Holmberg. 15 This stipulation constitutes a compromise settlement of Cha Xiong Thor'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 Cha 19 Xiong Thor 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 /// 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 1 This award is without prejudice to the rights of Matthew F. Holmberg 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 1, 2020 Respectfully submitted, 5 LAW OFFICES OF LAWRENCE D. ROHLFING 6 /s/ Matthew F. Holmberg 7 BY: __________________ Matthew F. Holmberg 8 Attorney for plaintiff Cha Xiong Thor 9 DATED: September 2, 2020 10 BENJAMIN B. WAGNER 11 United States Attorney DEBORAH L. STACHEL 12 Acting Regional Chief Counsel, Region IX Social Security Administration 13 14 /s/ Timothy R. Bolin 15 TIMOTHY R. BOLIN 16 Special Assistant United States Attorney Attorneys for Defendant ANDREW SAUL, 17 Commissioner of Social Security (Per e-mail authorization) 18 19 IT IS SO ORDERED. 20 Dated: September 9, 2020 /s/ Gary S. Austin 21 UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 22 ___________________________________ 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