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

1 Cyrus Safa Attorney at Law: 282971 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 Barbara L. Champ 7 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 8 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 9 10 BARBARA L. CHAMP, ) Case No.: 1:20-cv-00018-BAK (SKO) 11 ) Plaintiff, ) STIPULATION AND ORDER FOR 12 ) vs. ) THE AWARD AND PAYMENT OF 13 ) ATTORNEY FEES PURSUANT TO KILOLO KIJAKAZI, ) THE EQUAL ACCESS TO JUSTICE 14 Acting Commissioner of Social ) ACT, 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d) AND Security, ) 15 ) COSTS PURSUANT TO 28 U.S.C. § Defendant. ) 1920 16 ) (Doc. 30) 17 18 TO THE HONORABLE JENNIFER L. THURSTON, 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 Barbara L. Champ 22 be awarded attorney fees in the amount of four thousand one hundred forty-four 23 dollars and thirty-four cents dollars ($4,144.34) under the Equal Access to Justice 24 Act (EAJA), 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d), and costs in the amount of four hundred dollars 25 ($400.00) under 28 U.S.C. § 1920. This amount represents compensation for all 26 1 legal services rendered on behalf of Plaintiff by counsel in connection with this 2 civil action, in accordance with 28 U.S.C. §§ 1920; 2412(d). 3 After the Court issues an order for EAJA fees to Barbara L. Champ, the 4 government will consider the matter of Barbara L. Champ'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 Barbara L. Champ, but if the Department of 12 the Treasury determines that Barbara L. Champ 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, Inc., CPC, pursuant to the 15 assignment executed by Barbara L. Champ.1 Any payments made shall be 16 delivered to Cyrus Safa. 17 This stipulation constitutes a compromise settlement of Barbara L. Champ'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 Barbara 21 L. Champ and/or Cyrus Safa including Law Offices of Lawrence D. Rohlfing, Inc., 22 CPC may 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, Inc., CPC to seek Social Security Act attorney 3 fees under 42 U.S.C. § 406(b), subject to the savings clause provisions of the 4 EAJA. 5 DATE: March 17, 2022 Respectfully submitted, 6 LAW OFFICES OF LAWRENCE D. ROHLFING, INC., CPC 7 /s/ Cyrus Safa BY: _________________________ 8 Cyrus Safa Attorney for plaintiff Barbara L. Champ 9 10 DATED: March 17, 2022 PHILLIP A. TALBERT 11 Acting United States Attorney 12 PETER K. THOMPSON Regional Chief Counsel 13 Social Security Administration 14 /s/ Oscar Gonzalez 15 16 OSCAR GONZALEZ Special Assistant United States Attorney 17 Attorneys for Defendant KILOLO KIJAKAZI, Acting Commissioner of 18 Social Security (Per e-mail authorization) 19 20 21 ORDER 22 Based upon the parties’ foregoing STIPULATION FOR THE AWARD AND PAYMENT OF ATTORNEY FEES PURSUANT TO THE EQUAL ACCESS TO 23 JUSTICE ACT, 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d) AND COSTS PURSUANT TO 28 U.S.C. § 24 1920 (the “Stipulation”) (Doc. 30), IT IS ORDERED that attorney’s fees in the 25 amount of four thousand one hundred forty-four dollars and thirty-four cents dollars 26 1 ($4,144.34) under the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA), 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d), and 2 costs in the amount of four hundred dollars ($400.00) under 28 U.S.C. § 1920, be 3 awarded subject to the terms of the Stipulation. 4 IT IS SO ORDERED. 5 6 Dated: March 21, 2022 /s/ Sheila K. Oberto . UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26