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: [email protected] 5 Attorneys for Plaintiff 6 Matthew Wayne Christensen

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8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 MATTHEW WAYNE ) Case No.: 2:24-cv-01704-DMC CHRISTENSEN, ) 12 ) STIPULATION AND ORDER FOR Plaintiff, ) THE AWARD AND PAYMENT OF 13 ) ATTORNEY FEES AND EXPENSES vs. ) PURSUANT TO THE EQUAL 14 ) ACCESS TO JUSTICE ACT, 28 U.S.C. FRANK BISIGNANO, ) § 2412(d) AND COSTS PURSUANT 15 Commissioner of Social Security, ) TO

; DECLARATION ) OF Matthew F. Holmberg 16 Defendant. ) ) 17 18 TO THE HONORABLE DENNIS M. COTA, MAGISTRATE JUDGE OF 19 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 Matthew Wayne 22 Christensen (“Christensen”) be awarded attorney fees and expenses in the amount 23 of five thousand four hundred thirty six dollars and thirty three cents ($5,436.33) 24 under the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA),

(d), and no costs 25 under

. This amount represents compensation for all legal 26 1 services rendered on behalf of Plaintiff by counsel in connection with this civil 2 action, in accordance with

; 2412(d). 3 After the Court issues an order for EAJA fees to Christensen, the 4 government will consider the matter of Christensen's assignment of EAJA fees to 5 Matthew F. Holmberg. The retainer agreement containing the assignment is 6 attached as exhibit 1. Pursuant to Astrue v. Ratliff,

(2010), 7 the ability to honor the assignment will depend on whether the fees are subject to 8 any offset allowed under the United States Department of the Treasury's Offset 9 Program. After the order for EAJA fees is entered, the government will determine 10 whether they are subject to any offset. 11 Fees shall be made payable to Christensen, but if the Department of the 12 Treasury determines that Christensen does not owe a federal debt, then the 13 government shall cause the payment of fees, expenses and costs to be made 14 directly to Law Offices of Lawrence D. Rohlfing, Inc., CPC, pursuant to the 15 assignment executed by Christensen.1 Any payments may be made by check or 16 electronic fund transfer (EFT) and shall be delivered to the Law offices of 17 Lawrence D. Rohlfing, Inc.

18 This stipulation constitutes a compromise settlement of Christensen's 19 request for EAJA attorney fees, and does not constitute an admission of liability on 20 the part of Defendant under the EAJA or otherwise. Payment of the agreed amount 21 shall constitute a complete release from, and bar to, any and all claims that 22 Christensen and/or Matthew F. Holmberg including Law Offices of Lawrence D. 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 Rohlfing, Inc., CPC may have relating to EAJA attorney fees in connection with 2 this action. 3 This award is without prejudice to the rights of Matthew F. Holmberg and/or 4 the Law Offices of Lawrence D. Rohlfing, Inc., CPC to seek Social Security Act 5 attorney fees under

(b), subject to the savings clause provisions of 6 the EAJA. 7 DATE: May 30, 2025 Respectfully submitted, 8 LAW OFFICES OF LAWRENCE D. ROHLFING, INC., CPC

9 /s/ Matthew F. Holmberg2 BY: _________________________ 10 Matthew F. Holmberg Attorney for plaintiff Matthew Wayne Christensen 11

12 DATED: May 30, 2025 MICHELE BECKWITH 13 Acting United States Attorney 14 MATHEW W. PILE Associate General Counsel 15 Social Security Administration

16 /s/ Erin Jurrens 17

18 ERIN JURRENS Special Assistant United States Attorney 19 Attorneys for Defendant FRANK BISIGNANO, Commissioner of Social 20 Security (Per e-mail authorization)

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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 ORDER 2 Approved and so ordered. Matthew Wayne Christensen is awarded attorney 3 || fees and expenses in the amount of five thousand four hundred thirty-six dollars 4 || and thirty three cents dollars ($5,436.33) under the Equal Access to Justice Act 5 || (EAJA),

(d), and no costs under

pursuant to the 6 || terms of the stipulation. 8 || Dated: June 2, 2025 9 Smo 10 DENNIS M. COTA UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE 11 JUDGE 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26

1 DECLARATION OF MATTHEW F. HOLMBERG I, Matthew F. Holmberg, declare as follows: 2 1. I am an attorney at law duly admitted to practice before this Court in this 3 case. I represent Matthew Wayne Christensen in this action. I make this 4 declaration of my own knowledge and belief. 5 2. I attach as exhibit 1 a true and correct copy of the itemization of time in 6 this matter. 7 3. I attach as exhibit 2 a true and correct copy of the retainer agreement with 8 Matthew Wayne Christensen containing an assignment of the EAJA fees. 9 I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct to the 10 best of my knowledge and belief. 11 Executed this May 30, 2025, at Santa Fe Springs, California. 12

13 /s/ Matthew F. Holmberg 14 _________________________ 15 Matthew F. Holmberg 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 1 PROOF OF SERVICE 2 3 S TATE IO aFm CA eLmIFpOloRyNeIAd, iCnO tUhNe TcYo uOnFt LyO oSf ALNoGsE ALEnSg eles, 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 May 30, 2025, I served the foregoing document described as 7 STIPULATION FOR THE AWARD AND PAYMENT OF ATTORNEY FEES 8 AND EXPENSES PURSUANT TO THE EQUAL ACCESS TO JUSTICE ACT, 9

(d) AND COSTS PURSUANT TO

on the 10 interested parties in this action by placing a true copy thereof enclosed in a sealed 11 envelope addressed as follows: 12 Mr. Matthew Wayne Christensen 6056 Rutland Dr., Bldg 1, Unit 1 13 Carmichael, CA 95608

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 Matthew F. Holmberg ___ /s/ Matthew F. Holmberg____________ 21 TYPE OR PRINT NAME SIGNATURE 22 23 24 25 26 1 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE FOR CASE NUMBER 2:24-CV-01704-DMC 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 May 30, 2025. 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/ Matthew F. Holmberg _______________________________ 10 Matthew F. Holmberg 11 Attorneys for Plaintiff

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