Martin Rodriguez Gomez v. United States District Court for the District of Nevada

Opinion

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 Martin Rodriguez Gomez 11

14 15 MARTIN RODRIGUEZ GOMEZ, ) Case No.: 2:25-cv-02134-MDC ) 16 Plaintiff, ) STIPULATION AND PROPOSED ) ORDER FOR THE AWARD AND 17 vs. ) PAYMENT OF ATTORNEY FEES ) AND EXPENSES PURSUANT TO 18 FRANK BISIGNANO, ) THE EQUAL ACCESS TO JUSTICE Commissioner of Social Security, ) ACT, 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d) AND 19 ) COSTS PURSUANT TO 28 U.S.C. §§ Defendant. ) 1920; 2412; DECLARATION OF 20 ) MARC V. KALAGIAN ) 21 )

22 TO THE HONORABLE MAXIMILIANO D. COUVILLIER, 23 MAGISTRATE JUDGE OF 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 Martin Rodriguez 26 1 Gomez (“Rodriguez Gomez”) be awarded attorney fees in the amount of THIRTY 2 THREE HUNDRED dollars ($3,300.00) and no expenses under the Equal Access 3 to Justice Act (EAJA), 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d), and no costs under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1920; 4 2412. This amount represents compensation for all legal services rendered on 5 behalf of Plaintiff by counsel in connection with this civil action, in accordance 6 with 28 U.S.C. §§ 1920; 2412(d). 7 Attorneys' fees awarded under the EAJA must be reasonable, but it is for the 8 district court to determine what fee is reasonable. Nerio Mejia v. O'Malley, 120 9 F.4th 1360, 1363-1364 (9th Cir. 2024). In this matter the parties agree that plaintiff 10 is the prevailing party, that plaintiff is eligible to receive an award of the requested 11 fees and costs, that the decision of the ALJ was not substantially justified, and no 12 special circumstances make an award unjust. The court should also consider the 13 results achieved. Remand was obtained through voluntary consent and agreement 14 of the parties. Through Counsel for the parties efforts, litigation was avoided in this 15 matter and the time expended was reasonable. 16 Therefore, Rodriguez Gomez is entitled to reasonable attorneys’ fees based 17 on the hours reasonably expended (attached hereto as Exhibit 2) multiplied by the 18 prevailing rate as set by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals1 and as compared to

19 other EAJA awards at the district court level within the Ninth Circuit. See Ortiz v. 20 Comm'r of Soc. Sec., No. 2:21-cv-01563 KJM DMC, 2025 LX 334420 (E.D. Cal. 21 Aug. 18, 2025) (granting EAJA fees of $11.036.00); Costa v. Comm'r of SSA, 690 22 F.3d 1132 *1133-37 (9th Cir. 2012) ("Many district courts have noted that twenty 23 to forty hours is the range most often requested and granted in social security 24 cases."). The hours performed in Rodriguez Gomez’s case total 14.1. 25

26 1 1 After the Court issues an order for EAJA fees to Rodriguez Gomez, the 2 government will consider the matter of Rodriguez Gomez's assignment of EAJA 3 fees to Marc Kalagian. The retainer agreement containing the assignment is 4 attached as exhibit 1. Pursuant to Astrue v. Ratliff, 130 S.Ct. 2521, 2529 (2010), 5 the ability to honor the assignment will depend on whether the fees are subject to 6 any offset allowed under the United States Department of the Treasury's Offset 7 Program. After the order for EAJA fees is entered, the government will determine 8 whether they are subject to any offset. 9 Fees shall be made payable to Rodriguez Gomez, but if the Department of 10 the Treasury determines that Rodriguez Gomez does not owe a federal debt, then 11 the government shall cause the payment of fees, expenses and costs to be made 12 directly to Law Offices of Lawrence D. Rohlfing, Inc., CPC, pursuant to the 13 assignment executed by Rodriguez Gomez.2 Any payments made shall be 14 delivered to Law Offices of Lawrence D. Rohlfing, Inc., CPC. Counsel agrees that 15 any payment of costs may be made either by electronic fund transfer (EFT) or by 16 check. 17 This stipulation constitutes a compromise settlement of Rodriguez Gomez's 18 request for EAJA attorney fees, and does not constitute an admission of liability on

19 the part of Defendant under the EAJA or otherwise. Payment of the agreed amount 20 shall constitute a complete release from, and bar to, any and all claims that 21 Rodriguez Gomez and/or Marc Kalagian including Law Offices of Lawrence D. 22 Rohlfing, Inc., CPC, may have relating to EAJA attorney fees in connection with 23 this action. 24

25 2 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 award is without prejudice to the nghts of Marc 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 || the EAJA. 5 I certify that Artificial Intelligence was not used to prepare the foregoing 6 || document. 7 || DATE: May 21, 2026 —_ Respectfully submitted, 8 LAW OFFICES OF LAWRENCE D. ROHLFING, INC., CPC 9 /s/ MareV. Kalagiau BY: 10 Marc V. Kalagian Attorney for plaintiff 1] MARTIN RODRIGUEZ GOMEZ 12 1 DATE: May 21, 2026 SIGAL CHATTAH 3 First Assistant United States Attorney 14

Special Assistant United States Attorney 17 Attorneys for Defendant FRANK BISIGNANO, Commissioner of Social 18 Security (Per e-mail authorization) 19 IT IS SO ORDERED: 20 DATED8-26-26 71 — 4, ‘7D

THE BOWARABLEA 23 MAOAIMILIANOA» CQUVILL “R JSRITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 24 L Uf 25 26

2 I, Marc V. Kalagian, declare as follows: 3 1. I am an attorney at law duly admitted to practice before this Court in this 4 case. I represent Martin Rodriguez Gomez in this action. I make this 5 declaration of my own knowledge and belief. 6 2. I attach as exhibit 1 a true and correct copy of the retainer agreement with 7 Martin Rodriguez Gomez containing an assignment of the EAJA fees. 8 3. I attach as exhibit 2 a true and correct copy of the itemization of time in 9 this matter. 10 I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct to the 11 best of my knowledge and belief. 12 Executed this May 21, 2026, at Santa Fe Springs, California. 13 14 /s/ Marc V. Kalagian 15 _________________________ Marc V. Kalagian 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 3 I am employed in the county of Los Angeles, 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 22, 2026, I served the foregoing document described as 9 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d) AND COSTS PURSUANT TO 28 U.S.C. § 1920 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. Martin Rodriguez Gomez, Jr. 3915 Sir Payne Court 13 Las Vegas, NV 89104

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 Marc V. Kalagian ___ /s/ Marc V. Kalagian___________ 22 23 24 25 26