Whitehouse v. Commissioner of Social Security

Filing 15

STIPULATION and ORDER signed by Magistrate Judge Edmund F. Brennan on 5/24/2017 ORDERING that James Scott Whitehouse is awarded attorney fees in the amount of four thousand dollars ($4,000.00), and costs in the amount of four hundred dollars ($400.00) under 28 U.S.C. § 1920. (Zignago, K.)

Download PDF
1 2 3 4 5 6 Young Cho Attorney at Law: 189870 Law Offices of Lawrence D. Rohlfing 12631 East Imperial Highway, Suite C-115 Santa Fe Springs, CA 90670 Tel.: (562) 868-5886 Fax: (562) 868-8868 E-mail: rohlfing.office@rohlfinglaw.com Attorneys for Plaintiff James Scott Whitehouse 7 8 9 10 11 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 12 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 13 14 JAMES SCOTT WHITEHOUSE, 15 Plaintiff, 16 vs. NANCY A. BERRYHILL, Acting Commissioner of Social Security, 17 18 Defendant. 19 ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) Case No.: 2:15-cv-02556-EFB STIPULATION AND PROPOSED ORDER FOR THE AWARD AND PAYMENT OF ATTORNEY FEES AND EXPENSES PURSUANT TO THE EQUAL ACCESS TO JUSTICE ACT, 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d) AND COSTS PURSUANT TO 28 U.S.C. § 1920 20 21 22 23 TO THE HONORABLE EDMUND F. BRENNAN, MAGISTRATE JUDGE OF THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT: IT IS HEREBY STIPULATED, by and between the parties through their 24 undersigned counsel, subject to the approval of the Court, that James Scott 25 Whitehouse be awarded attorney fees in the amount of four thousand dollars 26 ($4,000.00), and costs in the amount of four hundred dollars ($400.00) under 28 -1- 1 U.S.C. § 1920. This amount represents compensation for all legal services 2 rendered on behalf of Plaintiff by counsel in connection with this civil action, in 3 accordance with 28 U.S.C. §§ 1920; 2412(d). 4 After the Court issues an order for EAJA fees to James Scott Whitehouse, 5 the government will consider the matter of James Scott Whitehouse's assignment 6 of EAJA fees to Young Cho. The retainer agreement containing the assignment is 7 attached as exhibit 1. Pursuant to Astrue v. Ratliff, 130 S.Ct. 2521, 2529 (2010), 8 the ability to honor the assignment will depend on whether the fees are subject to 9 any offset allowed under the United States Department of the Treasury's Offset 10 Program. After the order for EAJA fees is entered, the government will determine 11 whether they are subject to any offset. 12 Fees shall be made payable to James Scott Whitehouse, but if the 13 Department of the Treasury determines that James Scott Whitehouse does not owe 14 a federal debt, then the government shall cause the payment of fees, expenses and 15 costs to be made directly to Law Offices of Lawrence D. Rohlfing, pursuant to the 16 assignment executed by James Scott Whitehouse.1 Any payments made shall be 17 delivered to Young Cho. 18 This stipulation constitutes a compromise settlement of James Scott 19 Whitehouse's request for EAJA attorney fees, and does not constitute an admission 20 of liability on the part of Defendant under the EAJA or otherwise. Payment of the 21 agreed amount shall constitute a complete release from, and bar to, any and all 22 claims that James Scott Whitehouse and/or Young Cho including Law Offices of 23 24 25 26 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 Offset Program. -2- 1 Lawrence D. Rohlfing may have relating to EAJA attorney fees in connection with 2 this action. 3 This award is without prejudice to the rights of Young Cho and/or the Law 4 Offices of Lawrence D. Rohlfing to seek Social Security Act attorney fees under 5 42 U.S.C. § 406(b), subject to the savings clause provisions of the EAJA. DATE: May 23, 2017 Respectfully submitted, 6 LAW OFFICES OF LAWRENCE D. ROHLFING 7 /s/ Young Cho BY: __________________ Young Cho Attorney for plaintiff James Scott Whitehouse 8 9 10 11 DATE: May 23, 2017 12 PHILLIP A. TALBERT Acting United States Attorney 13 /s/ Sharon Lahey 14 SHARON LAHEY Special Assistant United States Attorney Attorneys for Defendant NANCY A. BERRYHILL, Acting Commissioner of Social Security (Per e-mail authorization) 15 16 17 18 19 ORDER 20 21 22 Approved and so ordered. DATED: May 24, 2017. 23 24 25 26 -3-

Disclaimer: Justia Dockets & Filings provides public litigation records from the federal appellate and district courts. These filings and docket sheets should not be considered findings of fact or liability, nor do they necessarily reflect the view of Justia.


Why Is My Information Online?