(SS) Willard v. Commissioner of Social Security ( 2023 )

1 Matthew F. Holmberg Attorney at Law: 321167 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 Perry Gene Willard 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 PERRY GENE WILLARD, ) Case No.: 1:22-cv-00995-BAM ) 12 Plaintiff, ) STIPULATION AND PROPOSED ) ORDER FOR THE AWARD AND 13 vs. ) PAYMENT OF ATTORNEY FEES ) AND EXPENSES PURSUANT TO 14 KILOLO KIJAKAZI, ) THE EQUAL ACCESS TO JUSTICE Acting Commissioner of Social ) ACT, 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d) AND 15 Security, ) COSTS PURSUANT TO 28 U.S.C. § ) 1920 16 Defendant. ) ) 17 18 TO THE HONORABLE BARBARA A. MCAULIFFE, 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 Perry Gene Willard 22 be awarded attorney fees and expenses in the amount of eight hundred dollars 23 ($800.00) under the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA), 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d), and 24 no costs under 28 U.S.C. § 1920. This amount represents compensation for all 25 legal services rendered on behalf of Plaintiff by counsel in connection with this 26 civil action, in accordance with 28 U.S.C. §§ 1920; 2412(d). 1 After the Court issues an order for EAJA fees to Perry Gene Willard, the 2 government will consider the matter of Perry Gene Willard's assignment of EAJA 3 fees to Law Offices of Lawrence D. Rohlfing, Inc., CPC. The retainer agreement 4 containing the assignment is attached as exhibit 1. Pursuant to Astrue v. Ratliff, 5 130 S.Ct. 2521, 2529 (2010), the ability to honor the assignment will depend on 6 whether the fees are subject to any offset allowed under the United States 7 Department of the Treasury's Offset Program. After the order for EAJA fees is 8 entered, the government will determine whether they are subject to any offset. 9 Fees shall be made payable to Perry Gene Willard, but if the Department of 10 the Treasury determines that Perry Gene Willard does not owe a federal debt, then 11 the government shall cause the payment of fees, expenses and costs to be made 12 directly to Law Offices of Lawrence D. Rohlfing, Inc., CPC, pursuant to the 13 assignment executed by Perry Gene Willard.1 Any payments made shall be 14 delivered to Matthew F. Holmberg. 15 This stipulation constitutes a compromise settlement of Perry Gene 16 Willard'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 Perry Gene Willard and/or Matthew F. Holmberg including Law 20 Offices of Lawrence D. Rohlfing, Inc., CPC may have relating to EAJA attorney 21 fees in connection with this action. 22 This award is without prejudice to the rights of Matthew F. Holmberg and/or 23 the Law Offices of Lawrence D. Rohlfing, Inc., CPC to seek Social Security Act 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 attorney fees under 42 U.S.C. § 406(b), subject to the savings clause provisions of 2 the EAJA. 3 DATE: January 10, 2023 Respectfully submitted, 4 LAW OFFICES OF LAWRENCE D. ROHLFING, INC., CPC 5 /s/ Matthew F. Holmberg BY: _________________________ 6 Matthew F. Holmberg Attorney for plaintiff Perry Gene Willard 7 8 DATED: January 10, 2023 PHILLIP A. TALBERT 9 United States Attorney 10 MATHEW W. PILE Associate General Counsel 11 Social Security Administration 12 /s/ Mary Tsai 13 14 MARY TSAI Special Assistant United States Attorney 15 Attorneys for Defendant KILOLO KIJAKAZI, Acting Commissioner of 16 Social Security (Per e-mail authorization) 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 1 ORDER 2 Based on the parties’ Stipulation for the Award and Payment of Attorney 3 Fees and Expenses Pursuant to the Equal Access to Justice Act (“EAJA”), 28 4 U.S.C. § 2412(d) and Costs Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1920 (the “Stipulation”), IT IS 5 ORDERED that fees and expenses in the amount of eight hundred dollars 6 ($800.00) under EAJA, and no costs under 28 U.S.C. § 1920, be awarded subject 7 to the terms of the Stipulation. 8 9 IT IS SO ORDERED. 10 Dated: January 12, 2023 /s/ Barbara A. McAuliffe _ 11 UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26