Bachstein v. Bisignano

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: marc.kalagian@rksslaw.com 5 Leonard Stone 6 Attorney at Law: 5791 Shook & Stone 7 710 South 4th Street Las Vegas, NV 89101 8 Tel.: (702) 385-2220 Fax: (702) 384-0394 9 E-mail: Lstone@shookandstone.com 10 Attorneys for Plaintiff Curtus Andrew Bachstein 11 12 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 13 DISTRICT OF NEVADA 14 15 CURTUS ANDREW BACHSTEIN, ) Case No.: 3:25-cv-00244-CLB ) 16 Plaintiff, ) ORDER GRANTING STIPULATION ) FOR THE AWARD AND PAYMENT 17 vs. ) OF ATTORNEY FEES AND ) EXPENSES PURSUANT TO THE 18 FRANK BISIGNANO, ) EQUAL ACCESS TO JUSTICE ACT, Commissioner of Social Security, ) 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d) AND COSTS 19 ) PURSUANT TO 28 U.S.C. §§ 1920; Defendant. ) 2412; DECLARATION OF MARC V. 20 ) KALAGIAN ) 21 ) 22 TO THE HONORABLE CARLA BALDWIN, MAGISTRATE JUDGE OF 23 THE UNITED STATES 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 Curtus Andrew 26 1 Bachstein (“Bachstein”) be awarded attorney fees in the amount of SEVEN 2 THOUSAND dollars ($7,000.00) and expenses in the amount of ZERO dollars 3 ($0.00) under the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA), 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d), and 4 costs in the amount of ZERO dollars ($0.00) under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1920; 2412. This 5 amount represents compensation for all legal services rendered on behalf of 6 Plaintiff by counsel in connection with this civil action, in accordance with 28 7 U.S.C. §§ 1920; 2412(d). 8 After the Court issues an order for EAJA fees to Bachstein, the government 9 will consider the matter of Bachstein's assignment of EAJA fees to Marc 10 Kalagian. The retainer agreement containing the assignment is attached as exhibit 11 1. Pursuant to Astrue v. Ratliff, 130 S.Ct. 2521, 2529 (2010), the ability to honor 12 the assignment will depend on whether the fees are subject to any offset allowed 13 under the United States Department of the Treasury's Offset Program. After the 14 order for EAJA fees is entered, the government will determine whether they are 15 subject to any offset. 16 Fees shall be made payable to Bachstein, but if the Department of the 17 Treasury determines that Bachstein does not owe a federal debt, then the 18 government shall cause the payment of fees, expenses and costs to be made 19 directly to Law Offices of Lawrence D. Rohlfing, Inc., CPC, pursuant to the 20 assignment executed by Bachstein.1 Any payments made shall be delivered to Law 21 Offices of Lawrence D. Rohlfing, Inc., CPC. Counsel agrees that any payment of 22 costs may be made either by electronic fund transfer (ETF) or by check. 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 stipulation constitutes a compromise settlement of Bachstein's request 2 for EAJA attorney fees, and does not constitute an admission of liability on the part 3 of Defendant under the EAJA or otherwise. Payment of the agreed amount shall 4 constitute a complete release from, and bar to, any and all claims that Bachstein 5 and/or Marc Kalagian including Law Offices of Lawrence D. Rohlfing, Inc., CPC, 6 may have relating to EAJA attorney fees in connection with this action. 7 /// 8 /// 9 /// 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 1 This award is without prejudice to the rights of Mare Kalagian and/or the 2 || Law Offices of Lawrence D. Rohlfing, Inc., CPC, to seek Social Security Act 3 || attorney fees under 42 U.S.C. § 406(b), subject to the savings clause provisions of 4 EAJA. 5 || DATE: February 24, 2026 Respectfully submitted, 6 LAW OFFICES OF LAWRENCE D. ROHLFING, INC., CPC 7 /s| Ware. Kalagian * BY: 8 Marc V. Kalagian Attorney for plaintiff CURTUS ANDREW BACHSTEIN 10 DATE: February 24, 2026 SIGAL CHATTAH II First Assistant United States Attorney 12 13 fegfrey E. Staples 14 JEFFREY E. STAPLES Special Assistant United States Attorney 15 Attorneys for Defendant FRANK BISIGNANO, Commissioner of Social 16 Security (Per e-mail authorization) 17 ORDER 18 Approved and so ordered: 19 DATE: February 24, 2026. ‘ 20 21 THE HONORABLE CARLA BALDWIN UNITER STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 22 23 24 25 ||? 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.