(SS) Farias v. Commissioner of Social Security ( 2019 )

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 Irma Alicia Farias 7 8 9 10 11 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 12 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 13 14 IRMA ALICIA FARIAS, ) Case No.: 2:18-cv-01122-EFB ) 15 Plaintiff, ) STIPULATION AND PROPOSED ) ORDER FOR THE AWARD AND 16 vs. ) PAYMENT OF ATTORNEY FEES ) AND EXPENSES PURSUANT TO 17 ANDREW SAUL, ) THE EQUAL ACCESS TO JUSTICE Commissioner of Social Security, ) ACT, 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d) AND 18 ) COSTS PURSUANT TO 28 U.S.C. § Defendant. ) 1920 19 ) ) 20 21 TO THE HONORABLE EDMUND F. BRENNAN, MAGISTRATE 22 JUDGE OF THE DISTRICT COURT: 23 IT IS HEREBY STIPULATED, by and between the parties through their 24 undersigned counsel, subject to the approval of the Court, that Irma Alicia Farias 25 be awarded attorney fees in the amount of four thousand dollars ($4,000.00) under 26 the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA), 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d), and costs in the 1 amount of zero dollars ($0.00) under 28 U.S.C. § 1920. This amount represents 2 compensation for all legal services rendered on behalf of Plaintiff by counsel in 3 connection with this civil action, in accordance with 28 U.S.C. §§ 1920; 2412(d). 4 After the Court issues an order for EAJA fees to Irma Alicia Farias, the 5 government will consider the matter of Farias's assignment of EAJA fees to Young 6 Cho. The retainer agreement containing the assignment is attached as exhibit 1. 7 Pursuant to Astrue v. Ratliff, 130 S.Ct. 2521, 2529 (2010), the ability to honor the 8 assignment will depend on whether the fees are subject to any offset allowed under 9 the United States Department of the Treasury's Offset Program. After the order for 10 EAJA fees is entered, the government will determine whether they are subject to 11 any offset. 12 Fees shall be made payable to Farias, but if the Department of the Treasury 13 determines that Farias does not owe a federal debt, then the government shall cause 14 the payment of fees, expenses and costs to be made directly to Law Offices of 15 Lawrence D. Rohlfing, pursuant to the assignment executed by Farias.1 Any 16 payments made shall be delivered to Young Cho. 17 This stipulation constitutes a compromise settlement of Farias's request for 18 EAJA attorney fees, and does not constitute an admission of liability on the part of 19 Defendant under the EAJA or otherwise. Payment of the agreed amount shall 20 constitute a complete release from, and bar to, any and all claims that Farias and/or 21 Young Cho including Law Offices of Lawrence D. Rohlfing may have relating to 22 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: October 29, 2019 Respectfully submitted, 5 LAW OFFICES OF LAWRENCE D. ROHLFING 6 /s/ Youug Che BY: 7 Young Cho g Attorney for plaintiff Irma Alicia Farias 9 || DATED: October 29, 2019 | McGREGOR W. SCOTT 10 United States Attorney 11 /s/ Abanabelle 9. Yaug 12 ANNABELLE J. YANG 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 || DATED: October 30, 2019. Sg Vente, 4 Sb SA: EDMUND F. BRENNAN UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 22 23 24 25 26