(SS) Lukesic 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 Ruby Jeannine Lukesic 7 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 8 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 9 10 RUBY JEANNINE LUKESIC, ) Case No.: 2:20-cv-00607-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) ) 15 Defendant. ) ) 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 Ruby Jeannine 21 Lukesic be awarded attorney fees in the amount of three thousand six hundred 22 seventy-eight dollars and nineteen cents ($3,678.19) under the Equal Access to 23 Justice Act (EAJA), 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d). This amount represents compensation 24 for all legal services rendered on behalf of Plaintiff by counsel in connection with 25 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 Ruby Jeannine Lukesic, the 2 government will consider the matter of Ruby Jeannine Lukesic's assignment of 3 EAJA fees to Cyrus Safa. 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 Ruby Jeannine Lukesic, but if the 10 Department of the Treasury determines that Ruby Jeannine Lukesic does not owe a 11 federal debt, then the government shall cause the payment of fees, expenses and 12 costs to be made directly to Law Offices of Lawrence D. Rohlfing, pursuant to the 13 assignment executed by Ruby Jeannine Lukesic.1 Any payments made shall be 14 delivered to Cyrus Safa. 15 This stipulation constitutes a compromise settlement of Ruby Jeannine 16 Lukesic'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 Ruby Jeannine Lukesic 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 l 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 U.S.C. § 406(b), subject to the savings clause provisions of the EAJA. 4 ||DATE: May 28, 2021 Respectfully submitted, 5 LAW OFFICES OF LAWRENCE D. ROHLFING 6 /s/ Cyrus Safa BY: 7 Cyrus Safa Attorney for plaintiff 8 RUBY JEANNINE LUKESIC DATED: 28, 2021 PHILLIP TALBERT 10 Acting United States Attorney 11 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 18 ORDER 19 Approved and so ordered: 20 DATE: June 21, 2021 . ~ 21 tAttten— LNap—e 22 ALLISON CLAIRE UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 23 24 25 26