(SS) Harrison v. Commissioner of Social Security ( 2022 )

1 Lawrence D. Rohlfing Attorney at Law: 119433 2 Law Offices of Lawrence D. Rohlfing, Inc., CPC 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 Victor Renard Harrison 7 8 9 10 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 11 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 12 13 VICTOR RENARD HARRISON, ) Case No.: 1:20-cv-01558-EPG 14 ) Plaintiff, ) ORDER RE: STIPULATION AND 15 ) PROPOSED ORDER FOR THE AWARD vs. ) AND PAYMENT OF ATTORNEY FEES 16 ) AND EXPENSES PURSUANT TO THE KILOLO KIJAKAZI, ) EQUAL ACCESS TO JUSTICE ACT, 28 17 Acting Commissioner of Social Security, ) U.S.C. § 2412(d) AND COSTS PURSUANT ) TO 28 U.S.C. § 1920 18 Defendant. ) ) (ECF No.28). 19 ) 20 TO THE HONORABLE ERICA P. GROSJEAN, MAGISTRATE JUDGE OF THE 21 DISTRICT COURT: 22 IT IS HEREBY STIPULATED, by and between the parties through their undersigned 23 counsel, subject to the approval of the Court, that Victor Renard Harrison be awarded attorney 24 fees and expenses in the amount of four thousand three hundred fifty dollars ($4,350.00) under the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA), 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d), and no costs under 28 U.S.C. § 25 26 1 1920. This amount represents compensation for all legal services rendered on behalf of Harrison 2 by counsel in connection with this civil action, in accordance with 28 U.S.C. §§ 1920; 2412(d). After the Court issues an order for EAJA fees to Victor Renard Harrison, the government 3 will consider the matter of Harrison’s assignment of EAJA fees to Lawrence D. Rohlfing. The 4 retainer agreement containing the assignment is attached as exhibit 1. Pursuant to Astrue v. 5 Ratliff, 130 S.Ct. 2521, 2529 (2010), the ability to honor the assignment will depend on whether 6 the fees are subject to any offset allowed under the United States Department of the Treasury's 7 Offset 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 Victor Renard Harrison, but if the Department of the Treasury determines that Harrison does not owe a federal debt, then the government shall cause 10 the payment of fees, expenses and costs to be made directly to Law Offices of Lawrence D. 11 Rohlfing, Inc., CPC, pursuant to the assignment executed by Victor Renard Harrison.1 Any 12 payments made shall be delivered to Lawrence D. Rohlfing. 13 This stipulation constitutes a compromise settlement of Victor Renard Harrison's request 14 for EAJA attorney fees and does not constitute an admission of liability on the part of Defendant 15 under the EAJA or otherwise. Payment of the agreed amount shall constitute a complete release 16 from, and bar to, any and all claims that Victor Renard Harrison and/or Lawrence D. Rohlfing including Law Offices of Lawrence D. Rohlfing, Inc., CPC may have relating to EAJA attorney 17 fees in connection with this action. 18 This award is without prejudice to the rights of Lawrence D. Rohlfing and/or the Law 19 Offices of Lawrence D. Rohlfing, Inc., CPC to seek Social Security Act attorney fees under 42 20 U.S.C. § 406(b), subject to the savings clause provisions of the EAJA. 21 // 22 // 23 // // 24 // 25 26 1 1 2 DATE: September 20, 2022 Respectfully submitted, 3 LAW OFFICES OF LAWRENCE D. ROHLFING, INC., CPC 4 /s/ Lawrence D. Rohlfing BY: _________________________ 5 Lawrence D. Rohlfing Attorney for plaintiff Victor Renard Harrison 6 7 DATED: September 20, 2022 PHILLIP A. TALBERT 8 United States Attorney PETER K. THOMPSON 9 Acting Regional Chief Counsel, Region IX Social Security Administration 10 11 /s/ Oscar Gonzalez 12 OSCAR GONZALEZ Special Assistant United States Attorney 13 Attorneys for Defendant KILOLO KIJAKAZI, Acting Commissioner of Social 14 Security (Per e-mail authorization) 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 1 ORDER 2 Based upon the parties’ stipulation (ECF No. 28), IT IS ORDERED that fees and 3 expenses in the amount of $4,350.00 as authorized by the Equal Access to Justice Act, 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d), and no costs as authorized by 28 U.S.C. § 1920, be awarded subject to the terms of ‘ the stipulation. Given the parties’ stipulation, the Clerk of Court is respectfully directed to 5 terminate Plaintiff's motion for attorney fees (ECF No. 26). 7 ||IT IS SO ORDERED. | ated: _September 22, 2022 [le ey — 9 UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 10 1] 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 September 22, 2022, 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 Mr. Victor Renard Harrison, Jr. 601 El Tejon Ave 13 Bakersfield, CA 93308 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 Lawrence D. Rohlfing ___ /s/ Lawrence D. Rohlfing____________ 21 TYPE OR PRINT NAME SIGNATURE 22 23 24 25 26 1 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE FOR CASE NUMBER 1:20-CV-01558-EPG 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 September 21, 2022. 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/ Lawrence D. Rohlfing _______________________________ 10 Lawrence D. Rohlfing 11 Attorneys for Plaintiff 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26