BGG v. Kijakazi ( 2024 )

1 Marc V. Kalagian Attorney at Law: 4460 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 Leonard Stone 6 Attorney at Law: 5791 Shook and Stone, Chtd. 7 710 South 4th Street Las Vegas, NV 89101 Tel.: (702) 385-2220 8 Fax: (702) 384-0394 E-mail: MRobles@shookandstone.com 9 Attorneys for Plaintiff 10 Brian BGG 11 12 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 13 DISTRICT OF NEVADA 14 15 BGG, ) Case No.: 2:23-cv-00954-MDC ) 16 Plaintiff, ) STIPULATION FOR THE AWARD ) AND PAYMENT OF ATTORNEY 17 vs. ) FEES AND EXPENSES PURSUANT ) TO THE EQUAL ACCESS TO 18 MARTIN O'MALLEY, ) JUSTICE ACT, 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d) Commissioner of Social Security, ) AND COSTS PURSUANT TO 28 19 ) U.S.C. § 1920; AND ORDER Defendant. ) 20 ) ) 21 22 TO THE HONORABLE MAXIMILIANO D. COUVILLIER, 23 MAGISTRATE JUDGE OF THE DISTRICT COURT: 24 IT IS HEREBY STIPULATED by and between the parties through their 25 undersigned counsel, subject to the approval of the Court, that BGG be awarded 26 attorney fees and expenses in the amount of five thousand nine hundred fifty-one 1 dollars and ninety-five cents dollars ($5,951.95) under the Equal Access to Justice 2 Act (EAJA), 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d), and no costs under 28 U.S.C. § 1920. This 3 amount represents compensation for all legal services rendered on behalf of 4 Plaintiff by counsel in connection with this civil action, in accordance with 28 5 U.S.C. §§ 1920; 2412(d). 6 After the Court issues an order for EAJA fees to BGG, the government will 7 consider the matter of BGG's assignment of EAJA fees to Law Offices of 8 Lawrence D. Rohlfing, Inc., CPC. The retainer agreement containing the 9 assignment is attached as exhibit 1. Pursuant to Astrue v. Ratliff, 130 S.Ct. 2521, 10 2529 (2010), the ability to honor the assignment will depend on whether the fees 11 are subject to any offset allowed under the United States Department of the 12 Treasury's Offset Program. After the order for EAJA fees is entered, the 13 government will determine whether they are subject to any offset. 14 Fees shall be made payable to BGG, but if the Department of the Treasury 15 determines that BGG does not owe a federal debt, then the government shall cause 16 the payment of fees, expenses and costs to be made directly to Law Offices of 17 Lawrence D. Rohlfing, Inc., CPC, pursuant to the assignment executed by BGG.1 18 Any payments made shall be delivered to Law Offices of Lawrence D. Rohlfing, 19 Inc., CPC. 20 This stipulation constitutes a compromise settlement of BGG's request for 21 EAJA attorney fees, and does not constitute an admission of liability on the part of 22 Defendant under the EAJA or otherwise. Payment of the agreed amount shall 23 constitute a complete release from, and bar to, any and all claims that BGG and/or 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 || Marc V. Kalagian including Law Offices of Lawrence D. Rohlfing, Inc., CPC may 2 have relating to EAJA attorney fees in connection with this action. 3 This award is without prejudice to the rights of Marc V. Kalagian and/or the 4 || Law Offices of Lawrence D. Rohlfing, Inc., CPC to seek Social Security Act 5 || attorney fees under 42 U.S.C. § 406(b), subject to the savings clause provisions of 6 || the EAJA. 7 || DATE: February 16, 2024 Respectfully submitted, 8 LAW OFFICES OF LAWRENCE D. ROHLFING, INC., CPC SHOOK AND STONE, CHTD. /s| WareV. Kalagian® 10 BY: ll Marc V. Kalagian Attorney for plaintiff BGG 12 || DATED: JASON M. FRIERSON United States Attorney 14 /s/ Uichad 9 Mullen 15 MICHAEL J MULLEN Special Assistant United States Attorney 16 Attorneys for Defendant MARTIN O'MALLEY, Commissioner of Social Security 17 (Per e-mail authorization) 18 ORDER 19 A fe “7 f ten~f, It is so ordered. fie ff 0 Ap fx 21 if if \ DATE: ff ff 22 LJ 23 THE HONORABLE MAXAMILIANO D. COUVILLIER! UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 24 25 |!2 Counsel for the plaintiff attests that all other signatories listed, and on whose 6 || behalf the filing is submitted, concur in the filing’s content and have authorized the filing. 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 February 20, 2024, 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; AND ORDER on the interested parties in this action by placing a true copy 11 thereof enclosed in a sealed envelope addressed as follows: 12 Maria Guerra Mendoza 201 Wild Rose Street 13 Las Vegas, NV 89107 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 Marc V. Kalagian ___ /s/ Marc V. Kalagian____________ 21 TYPE OR PRINT NAME SIGNATURE 22 23 24 25 26 1 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE FOR CASE NUMBER 2:23-CV-00954-MDC 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 February 20, 2024. 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/ Marc V. Kalagian _______________________________ 10 Marc V. Kalagian 11 Attorneys for Plaintiff 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26