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

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 Teresa Samoy 7 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 8 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 9 10 TERESA SAMOY, ) Case No.: 2:18-cv-00538-EFB 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 18 TO THE HONORABLE EDMUND F. BRENNAN, MAGISTRATE 19 JUDGE OF THE DISTRICT COURT: 20 IT IS HEREBY STIPULATED, by and between the parties through their 21 undersigned counsel, subject to the approval of the Court, that Teresa Samoy be 22 awarded attorney fees in the amount of three thousand ninety-eight dollars and 23 sixty-one cents dollars ($3,098.61) under the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA), 24 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d), no costs under 28 U.S.C. § 1920. This amount represents 25 26 1 compensation for all legal services rendered on behalf of Plaintiff by counsel in 2 connection with this civil action, in accordance with 28 U.S.C. §§ 1920; 2412(d). 3 After the Court issues an order for EAJA fees to Teresa Samoy, the 4 government will consider the matter of Teresa Samoy's assignment of EAJA fees 5 to Cyrus Safa. 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 9 Program. After the order for EAJA fees is entered, the government will determine 10 whether they are subject to any offset. 11 Fees shall be made payable to Teresa Samoy, but if the Department of the 12 Treasury determines that Teresa Samoy 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 Teresa Samoy.1 Any payments made shall be delivered to Cyrus Safa. 16 This stipulation constitutes a compromise settlement of Teresa Samoy's 17 request for EAJA attorney fees, and does not constitute an admission of liability on 18 the part of Defendant under the EAJA or otherwise. Payment of the agreed amount 19 shall constitute a complete release from, and bar to, any and all claims that Teresa 20 Samoy and/or Cyrus Safa including Law Offices of Lawrence D. Rohlfing may 21 have relating to EAJA attorney fees in connection with 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 1142 U.S.C. § 406(b), subject to the savings clause provisions of the EAJA. 4 ||DATE: December 16, 2019 Respectfully submitted, 5 LAW OFFICES OF LAWRENCE D. ROHLFING 6 /s/ Conus Safa BY: 7 Cyrus Safa g Attorney for plaintiff Teresa Samoy 9 || DATED:December 16, 2019 McGREGOR W. SCOTT 10 United States Attorney 11 /s/ Elliaor Coder 12 ELLINOR CODER 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: December 18, 2019 21 EDMUND F. BRENNAN UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 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 December 17, 2019, I served the foregoing document 7 described as STIPULATION FOR THE AWARD AND PAYMENT OF 8 ATTORNEY FEES AND EXPENSES PURSUANT TO THE EQUAL ACCESS 9 TO JUSTICE ACT, 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d) AND COSTS PURSUANT TO 28 U.S.C. 10 § 1920 on the interested parties in this action by placing a true copy thereof 11 enclosed in a sealed envelope addressed as follows: 12 Ms. Teresa Samoy 1560 W. Harding Way 13 Stockton, CA 95203 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 2:18-CV-00538-EFB 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 December 17, 2019. 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