(SS) Bermea v. Commissioner of Social Security ( 2021 )

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 Frank Roseli Bermea 7 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 8 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 9 10 FRANK ROSELI BERMEA, ) Case No.: 1:20-cv-01232-BAM 11 ) Plaintiff, ) STIPULATION AND ORDER FOR 12 ) THE AWARD AND PAYMENT OF vs. ) ATTORNEY FEES AND EXPENSES 13 ) PURSUANT TO THE EQUAL ANDREW SAUL, ) ACCESS TO JUSTICE ACT, 28 U.S.C. 14 Commissioner of Social Security, ) § 2412(d) ) 15 Defendant. ) ) 16 ) 17 TO THE HONORABLE BARBARA A. MCAULIFFE, MAGISTRATE 18 JUDGE OF 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 Frank Roseli 21 Bermea be awarded attorney fees in the amount of nine hundred ninety-one dollars 22 ($991.35) 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 Frank Roseli Bermea, the 2 government will consider the matter of Frank Roseli Bermea's assignment of EAJA 3 fees to Cyrus Safa. The retainer agreement containing the assignment is attached 4 as exhibit 1. Pursuant to Astrue v. Ratliff, 130 S.Ct. 2521, 2529 (2010), the ability 5 to 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 Frank Roseli Bermea, but if the Department 10 of the Treasury determines that Frank Roseli Bermea does not owe a federal debt, 11 then the government shall cause the payment of fees, expenses and costs to be 12 made directly to Law Offices of Lawrence D. Rohlfing, pursuant to the assignment 13 executed by Frank Roseli Bermea.1 Any payments made shall be delivered to 14 Cyrus Safa. 15 This stipulation constitutes a compromise settlement of Frank Roseli 16 Bermea's request for EAJA attorney fees, and does not constitute an admission of 17 liability on the part of Defendant under the EAJA or otherwise. Payment of the 18 agreed amount shall constitute a complete release from, and bar to, any and all 19 claims that Frank Roseli Bermea and/or Cyrus Safa including Law Offices of 20 Lawrence D. Rohlfing may have relating to EAJA attorney fees in connection with 21 this action. 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 Cyrus Safa and/or the Law 2 Offices of Lawrence D. Rohlfing to seek Social Security Act attorney fees under 3 42 U.S.C. § 406(b), subject to the savings clause provisions of the EAJA. 4 DATE: June 25, 2021 Respectfully submitted, 5 LAW OFFICES OF LAWRENCE D. ROHLFING 6 /s/ Cyrus Safa BY: __________________ 7 Cyrus Safa Attorney for plaintiff 8 FRANK ROSELI BERMEA 9 DATED:June 25, 2021 PHILLIP TALBERT 10 Acting United States Attorney 11 12 /s/ Daniel P. Talbert 13 DANIEL P. TALBERT Special Assistant United States Attorney 14 Attorneys for Defendant ANDREW SAUL, Commissioner of Social 15 Security (Per e-mail authorization) 16 17 ORDER 18 Based upon the parties’ Stipulation for the Award and Payment of Attorney 19 Fees and Expenses Pursuant to the Equal Access to Justice Act, 28 U.S.C. § 20 2412(d) filed on June 28, 2021 (Doc. No. 14.): 21 /// 22 /// 23 /// 24 /// 25 /// 26 1 IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that attorney fees in the amount of NINE 2 HUNDRED NINETY-ONE DOLLARS ($991.35) be awarded subject to the terms 3 of the stipulation. 4 IT IS SO ORDERED. 5 6 Dated: June 30, 2021 /s/ Barbara A. McAuliffe _ UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 1 PROOF OF SERVICE 2 STATE OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES 3 I am employed in the county of Los Angeles, State of California. I am over 4 the age of 18 and not a party to the within action. My business address is 12631 5 East Imperial Highway, Suite C-115, Santa Fe Springs, California 90670. 6 On this day of June 25, 2021, I served the foregoing document described as 7 STIPULATION FOR THE AWARD AND PAYMENT OF ATTORNEY FEES 8 AND EXPENSES PURSUANT TO THE EQUAL ACCESS TO JUSTICE ACT, 9 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d) AND COSTS PURSUANT TO 28 U.S.C. § 1920 on the 10 interested parties in this action by placing a true copy thereof enclosed in a sealed 11 envelope addressed as follows: 12 Mr. Frank Roseli Bermea, Jr. 80 North Poplar Street 13 Sonora, CA 95370 14 I caused such envelope with postage thereon fully prepaid to be placed in the 15 United States mail at Santa Fe Springs, California. 16 I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of California 17 that the above is true and correct. 18 I declare that I am employed in the office of a member of this court at whose 19 direction the service was made. 20 Cyrus Safa ___ /s/ Cyrus Safa____________ 21 TYPE OR PRINT NAME SIGNATURE 22 23 24 25 26 1 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE FOR CASE NUMBER 1:20-CV-01232-BAM 2 I hereby certify that I electronically filed the foregoing with the Clerk of the 3 4 Court for this court by using the CM/ECF system on June 25, 2021. 5 I certify that all participants in the case are registered CM/ECF users and 6 that service will be accomplished by the CM/ECF system, except the plaintiff 7 served herewith by mail. 8 9 /s/ Cyrus Safa _______________________________ 10 Cyrus Safa 11 Attorneys for Plaintiff 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26