Thomas 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 Jacob Andrew Thomas 11 12 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 13 DISTRICT OF NEVADA 14 15 JACOB ANDREW THOMAS, ) Case No.: 3:25-cv-00545-CLB 16 ) Plaintiff, ) ORDER GRANTING STIPULATION 17 ) FOR THE AWARD AND PAYMENT vs. ) OF ATTORNEY FEES AND 18 ) EXPENSES PURSUANT TO THE FRANK BISIGNANO, ) EQUAL ACCESS TO JUSTICE ACT, 19 Commissioner of Social Security, ) 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d) AND COSTS ) PURSUANT TO 28 U.S.C. §§ 1920; 20 Defendant. ) 2412; DECLARATION OF MARC V. ) KALAGIAN 21 ) ) 22 23 TO THE HONORABLE CARLA BALDWIN, MAGISTRATE JUDGE OF 24 THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT: 25 IT IS HEREBY STIPULATED, by and between the parties through their 26 undersigned counsel, subject to the approval of the Court, that Jacob Andrew 1 Thomas (“Thomas”) be awarded attorney fees in the amount of seven thousand one 2 hundred dollars ($7,100.00) and expenses in the amount of zero dollars ($0.00) 3 under the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA), 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d), and costs in 4 the amount of zero dollars ($0.00) under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1920; 2412. This amount 5 represents compensation for all legal services rendered on behalf of Plaintiff by 6 counsel in connection with this civil action, in accordance with 28 U.S.C. §§ 1920; 7 2412(d). 8 After the Court issues an order for EAJA fees to Thomas, the government 9 will consider the matter of Thomas's assignment of EAJA fees to Marc Kalagian. 10 The retainer agreement containing the assignment is attached as exhibit 1. 11 Pursuant to Astrue v. Ratliff, 130 S.Ct. 2521, 2529 (2010), the ability to honor the 12 assignment will depend on whether the fees are subject to any offset allowed under 13 the United States Department of the Treasury's Offset Program. After the order for 14 EAJA fees is entered, the government will determine whether they are subject to 15 any offset. 16 Fees shall be made payable to Thomas, but if the Department of the 17 Treasury determines that Thomas does not owe a federal debt, then the government 18 shall cause the payment of fees, expenses and costs to be made directly to Law 19 Offices of Lawrence D. Rohlfing, Inc., CPC, pursuant to the assignment executed 20 by Thomas.1 Any payments made shall be delivered to Law Offices of Lawrence 21 D. Rohlfing, Inc., CPC. Counsel agrees that any payment of costs may be made 22 either by electronic fund transfer (EFT) 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 Thomas'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 Thomas 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 This award is without prejudice to the rights of Marc Kalagian and/or the 8 Law Offices of Lawrence D. Rohlfing, Inc., CPC, to seek Social Security Act 9 attorney fees under 42 U.S.C. § 406(b), subject to the savings clause provisions of 10 the EAJA. 11 DATE: March 20, 2026 Respectfully submitted, 12 LAW OFFICES OF LAWRENCE D. ROHLFING, INC., CPC 13 /s/ Marc V. Kalagian 2 BY: __________________ 14 Marc V. Kalagian Attorney for plaintiff 15 JACOB ANDREW THOMAS 16 /// 17 /// 18 /// 19 /// 20 /// 21 /// 22 /// 23 24 25 2 Counsel for the plaintiff attests that all other signatories listed, and on whose behalf the filing is submitted, concur in the filing’s content and have authorized the 26 1 || DATED: March 20, 2026 SIGAL CHATTAH First Assistant United States Attorney 3 /s/ Dawid Priddy 4 DAVID PRIDDY 5 Special Assistant United States Attorney Attomeys for Defendant 6 FRANK BISIGNANO, Commissioner of Social Security (Per e-mail authorization) 8 9 IT IS SO ORDERED: 10 ‘ i THE HONORABLE CARLA BALDWIN 12 UNITER STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 13 14 DATED: March 23, 2026. 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26