Franks v. Kelso et al

Filing 90

ORDER signed by Magistrate Judge Carolyn K. Delaney on 1/08/21 DENYING 89 Motion to Appoint Counsel. (Plummer, M)

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 8 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 9 10 TOM M. FRANKS, 11 12 13 14 No. 2:17-cv-1056 KJM CKD P Plaintiff, v. ORDER J. CLARK KELSO, et al., Defendants. 15 16 Plaintiff is a state prisoner proceeding pro se in an action brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. 17 Plaintiff requests that the court appoint counsel. District courts lack authority to require counsel 18 to represent indigent prisoners in section 1983 cases. Mallard v. United States Dist. Court, 490 19 U.S. 296, 298 (1989). In exceptional circumstances, the court may request an attorney to 20 voluntarily represent such a plaintiff. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(1); Terrell v. Brewer, 935 F.2d 21 1015, 1017 (9th Cir. 1991); Wood v. Housewright, 900 F.2d 1332, 1335-36 (9th Cir. 1990). 22 When determining whether “exceptional circumstances” exist, the court must consider plaintiff’s 23 likelihood of success on the merits as well as the ability of the plaintiff to articulate his claims pro 24 se in light of the complexity of the legal issues involved. Palmer v. Valdez, 560 F.3d 965, 970 25 (9th Cir. 2009) (district court did not abuse discretion in declining to appoint counsel). The 26 burden of demonstrating exceptional circumstances is on the plaintiff. Id. Circumstances 27 common to most prisoners, such as lack of legal education and limited law library access, do not 28 establish exceptional circumstances that warrant a request for voluntary assistance of counsel. 1 Having considered the factors under Palmer, the court finds that plaintiff has failed to 2 meet his burden of demonstrating exceptional circumstances warranting the appointment of 3 counsel at this time. 4 Accordingly, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that plaintiff’s request for the appointment of 5 counsel (ECF No. 89) is denied without prejudice. 6 Dated: January 8, 2021 _____________________________________ CAROLYN K. DELANEY UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 12/fran1056.31(5).docx 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 2

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