1 Lawrence D. Rohlfing Attorney at Law: 119433 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 Pamala Leadbetter Dean

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9 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 10 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 11

12 PAMALA LEADBETTER DEAN, ) Case No.: 1:25-cv-616 SKO 13 ) Plaintiff, ) STIPULATION AND UNOPPOSED 14 ) MOTION FOR THE AWARD AND vs. ) PAYMENT OF ATTORNEY FEES 15 ) FRANK BISIGNANO, ) AND EXPENSES PURSUANT TO 16 Commissioner of Social Security, ) THE EQUAL ACCESS TO JUSTICE ) ACT,

(d) AND 17 Defendant. ) COSTS PURSUANT TO 28 U.S.C. § ) 18 ) 1920; ORDER

19 (Doc. 18)

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21 TO THE HONORABLE SHEILA K. OBERTO, MAGISTRATE JUDGE 22 OF THE DISTRICT COURT: 23 IT IS HEREBY STIPULATED by and between the parties through their 24 undersigned counsel, subject to the approval of the Court, that Pamala Leadbetter 25 Dean (“Dean”) be awarded attorney fees and expenses in the amount of three 26 1 Justice Act (EAJA),

(d), and no costs under

. 2 This amount represents compensation for all legal services rendered on behalf of 3 Dean by counsel in connection with this civil action, in accordance with 28 U.S.C. 4 §§ 1920; 2412(d). 5 Dean was the prevailing party in this matter and Dean is an individual whose 6 net worth does not exceed $2,000,000 at the time the civil action was filed. The 7 position of the Commissioner was not substantially justified and an award of fees 8 is not unjust. 9 Under Astrue v. Ratliff,

(2010), EAJA fees 10 awarded by this Court belong to the Dean and are subject to offset under the 11 Treasury Offset Program (

(c)(3)(B) (2006)). Any EAJA fees 12 should therefore be awarded to Dean and not to Dean’s attorney. Fees can be made 13 payable by check or electronic funds transfer (EFT). 14 If, after receiving the Court’s order awarding fees and expenses under the 15 EAJA, the Commissioner (1) determines that Dean has assigned her right to EAJA 16 fees to her attorney; (2) determines that Dean does not owe a debt that is subject to 17 offset under the Treasury Offset Program, the EAJA fees will be made payable to 18 Dean’s attorney. However, if there is a debt owed under the Treasury Offset

19 Program, the remaining EAJA fees after offset will be paid by a check or EFT 20 made out to Dean but delivered to Dean’s attorneys, Lawrence D. Rohlfing, Inc., 21 CPC pursuant to the assignment executed by Dean. 1 22 The retainer agreement containing the assignment by Dean to counsel is 23 attached as exhibit 1. The firm’s hours are attached as exhibit 2. 24

25 1 The parties do not stipulate whether counsel has a cognizable lien under federal law against the recovery of EAJA fees and expenses that survives the Treasury 26 1 This stipulation constitutes a compromise settlement of Dean's request for 2 EAJA attorney fees and does not constitute an admission of liability on the part of 3 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 Dean and/or 5 Lawrence D. Rohlfing including Law Offices of Lawrence D. Rohlfing, Inc., CPC 6 may have relating to EAJA attorney fees in connection with this action. 7 The parties further agree that the EAJA award is without prejudice to the 8 right of Lawrence D. Rohlfing and/or the Law Offices of Lawrence D. Rohlfing, 9 Inc., CPC to seek attorney fees pursuant to Social Security Act § 206(b), 42 U.S.C. 10 § 406(b), subject to the offset provisions of the EAJA. See

(c)(1) 11 (2006). 12 DATE: October 21, 2025 Respectfully submitted, 13 LAW OFFICES OF LAWRENCE D. ROHLFING, INC., CPC

14 /s/ Lawrence D. Rohlfing2 BY: _________________________ 15 Lawrence D. Rohlfing Attorney for plaintiff Pamala Leadbetter Dean 16

17 DATED: October 23, 2025 ERIC GRANT 18 United States Attorney MATHEW W. PILE 19 Associate General Counsel Social Security Administration 20 /s/ Katherine S. Bowles 21

22 KATHERINE S. BOWLES Special Assistant United States Attorney 23 Attorneys for Defendant FRANK BISIGNANO, Commissioner of Social Security 24 (Per e-mail authorization)

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 Based upon the parties’ foregoing Stipulation and Unopposed Motion for 3 Award of EAJA Fees (“Stipulation”) (Doc. 18), IT IS ORDERED that Plaintiff 4 Pamala Leadbetter Dean (“Dean”) be awarded attorney fees and expenses in the 5 amount of three thousand three hundred eighty-eight dollars ($3,388) under the 6 Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA),

(d), and no costs under 28

, subject to the terms and conditions of the Stipulation. 8 9 IT IS SO ORDERED.

10 Dated: October 27, 2025 /s/ Sheila K. Oberto . 11 UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE

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