Cleveland v. Janssen Pharmaceuticals

Filing 36

ORDER signed by Magistrate Judge Allison Claire on 1/8/2018 GRANTING 31 Motion to Appoint Counsel ; GRANTING 33 Motion for a Settlement Conference ; VACATING 34 Motion to Oppose Discovery ; and VACATING 35 Motion to Compel Discovery. This case is REFERRED to the courts Pro Bono Coordinator. CC'd VDRP Coordinator. (Hunt, G)

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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 DOMINGO L. CLEVELAND, SR, 12 13 14 15 No. 2:16-cv-02308-MCE-AC Plaintiff, v. ORDER JANSSEN PHARMACEUTICALS, Defendant. 16 17 Plaintiff is a state prisoner proceeding pro se and in forma pauperis. Plaintiff seeks relief 18 against Janssen Pharmaceuticals for physical and mental harm he alleges he sustained after taking 19 one of their drugs. Upon review of plaintiff’s most recent motion for appointment of counsel and 20 the documents on file, and good cause appearing, the court finds as follows: 21 22 23 1. Efforts to obtain legal representation without order of this court would be futile for the following reasons: a. Plaintiff’s income is below the current poverty threshold established by the Office 24 of Management and Budget of the United States and he is otherwise without 25 resources to obtain counsel; 26 27 28 b. This case is of a type that attorneys in this district ordinarily do not accept without prepayment of a fee; and c. This case is not a fee generating case within the meaning of California Business 1 2 and Professions Code § 8030.4(e). 2. This case has sufficient merit to warrant appointment for the limited purpose of 3 representing plaintiff in a settlement conference. 4 Therefore, THIS COURT ORDERS AS FOLLOWS: 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 1. Plaintiff’s motion for the appointment of counsel (ECF No. 31) and motion for a settlement conference (ECF No. 33) are granted; 2. Plaintiff’s motions to oppose discovery and motions to compel discovery (ECF Nos. 34 and 35) are VACATED without decision and without prejudice as premature; 3. This case is referred to the court’s Pro Bono Coordinator, Sujean Park, to locate counsel willing to represent plaintiff in this case for purposes of settlement only; and 4. After counsel is appointed, within fourteen days of counsel appearing on behalf of 12 plaintiff, the parties shall each file a signed Notice Regarding Waiver of Disqualification 13 (“Waiver Form”), indicating whether they will agree to the undersigned serving as the 14 settlement judge. Failure of either party to file a waiver will result in this case being 15 randomly assigned to another magistrate judge for purposes of conducting a settlement 16 conference; and 17 18 19 5. Following receipt of each party’s signed Waiver Form, the court will schedule a settlement conference. Dated: January 8, 2018 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 2

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