Develder v. Hirshler et al

Filing 57

ORDER denying 56 Motion to Appoint Counsel signed by Magistrate Judge Edmund F. Brennan on 04/13/16. (Plummer, M)

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 MICHAEL J. DEVELDER, 12 Plaintiff, 13 14 v. No. 2:09-cv-1803-TLN-EFB P ORDER J. HIRSHLER, et al., 15 Defendants. 16 Plaintiff is a state prisoner proceeding without counsel in an action brought under 42 17 18 U.S.C. § 1983. He again requests that the court appoint counsel. As plaintiff has been previously 19 informed, see ECF No. 50, district courts lack authority to require counsel to represent indigent 20 prisoners in section 1983 cases. Mallard v. United States Dist. Court, 490 U.S. 296, 298 (1989). 21 In exceptional circumstances, the court may request an attorney to voluntarily to represent such a 22 plaintiff. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(1); Terrell v. Brewer, 935 F.2d 1015, 1017 (9th Cir. 1991); 23 Wood v. Housewright, 900 F.2d 1332, 1335-36 (9th Cir. 1990). When determining whether 24 “exceptional circumstances” exist, the court must consider the likelihood of success on the merits 25 as well as the ability of the plaintiff to articulate his claims pro se in light of the complexity of the 26 legal issues involved. Palmer v. Valdez, 560 F.3d 965, 970 (9th Cir. 2009). Having once again 27 considered those factors, the court still finds there are no exceptional circumstances in this case. 28 ///// 1 1 Accordingly, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that plaintiff’s request for appointment of 2 counsel (ECF No. 56) is denied. 3 DATED: April 13, 2016. 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 2

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