(SS) Fillmore 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 Haley J. Fillmore 7 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 8 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 9 10 HALEY J. FILLMORE, ) Case No.: 2:20-cv-01599-DMC 11 ) Plaintiff, ) STIPULATION AND ORDER FOR 12 ) THE AWARD AND PAYMENT OF vs. ) ATTORNEY FEES PURSUANT TO 13 ) THE EQUAL ACCESS TO JUSTICE KILOLO KIJAKAZI, ) ACT, 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d) AND NO 14 Acting Commissioner of Social ) COSTS PURSUANT TO 28 U.S.C. § Security, ) 1920 15 ) Defendant. ) 16 ) 17 TO THE HONORABLE DENNIS M. COTA, 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 Haley J. Fillmore be 21 awarded attorney fees in the amount of three thousand seven-hundred seventy- 22 eight dollars and seventy five cents ($3,778.75) under the Equal Access to Justice 23 Act (EAJA), 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d), and no costs under 28 U.S.C. § 1920. This 24 amount represents compensation for all legal services rendered on behalf of 25 26 1 Plaintiff by counsel in connection with this civil action, in accordance with 28 2 U.S.C. §§ 1920; 2412(d). 3 After the Court issues an order for EAJA fees to Haley J. Fillmore, the 4 government will consider the matter of Haley J. Fillmore's assignment of EAJA 5 fees to Cyrus Safa. The retainer agreement containing the assignment is attached 6 as exhibit 1. Pursuant to Astrue v. Ratliff, 130 S.Ct. 2521, 2529 (2010), the ability 7 to 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 Haley J. Fillmore, but if the Department of 12 the Treasury determines that Haley J. Fillmore does not owe a federal debt, then 13 the 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 Haley J. Fillmore.1 Any payments made shall be delivered to Cyrus 16 Safa. 17 This stipulation constitutes a compromise settlement of Haley J. Fillmore's 18 request for EAJA attorney fees, and does not constitute an admission of liability on 19 the part of Defendant under the EAJA or otherwise. Payment of the agreed amount 20 shall constitute a complete release from, and bar to, any and all claims that Haley J. 21 Fillmore and/or Cyrus Safa including Law Offices of Lawrence D. Rohlfing may 22 have relating to 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 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: December 8, 2021 Respectfully submitted, 5 LAW OFFICES OF LAWRENCE D. ROHLFING 6 /s/ Cyrus Safa BY: __________________ 7 Cyrus Safa Attorney for plaintiff 8 HALEY J. FILLMORE 9 DATED:December 8, 2021 PHILLIP A. TALBERT 10 Acting United States Attorney PETER K. THOMPSON 11 Regional Chief Counsel 12 Social Security Administration 13 /s/ Daniel P. Talbert 14 15 DANIEL P. TALBERT Special Assistant United States Attorney 16 Attorneys for Defendant KILOLO KIJAKAZI, Acting Commissioner of 17 Social Security (Per e-mail authorization) 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 1 ORDER 2 Approved and so ordered: 4 Dated: December 21, 2021 Svc. 5 DENNIS M. COTA UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE 6 JUDGE 8 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26