Fountain v. City of Hannibal

Filing 7

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER: IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that Plaintiff's motion for appointment of counsel 4 is DENIED without prejudice. Signed by Mag Judge Audrey G. Fleissig on 6/18/09. (TRC)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT E A S T E R N DISTRICT OF MISSOURI N O R T H E R N DIVISION

G O R D O N FOUNTAIN, Plaintiff, vs. C I T Y OF HANNIBAL, Defendant.

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C as e No. 2:09CV0006 AGF

M E M O R A N D U M AND ORDER T h is matter is before the Court on Plaintiff's motion for appointment of counsel. Plaintiff commenced this employment discrimination action pro se against his employer. He claims discrimination on the basis of race, and retaliation. There is no constitutional rig h t for a pro se plaintiff to have counsel appointed in a civil case, although the Court h as discretion to appoint an attorney to handle such a case when necessary. See In re L a n e , 801 F.2d 1040, 1043-44 (8th Cir. 1986). Among the factors a court should consider in making this determination are the factual complexity of the case, the ability of the p l a in t if f to investigate the facts and present his claim, the complexity of the legal issues, a n d to what degree the plaintiff and the court would benefit from such an appointment. Id. The Eighth Circuit has identified three additional factors relevant to the ap p o intm en t of counsel in an employment discrimination case: "(1) the plaintiff's f in a n c ia l resources, (2) the plaintiff's efforts to secure counsel, and (3) the merits of the

discrimination claim." Slaughter v. City of Maplewood, 731 F.2d 587, 590 (8th Cir. 1 9 8 4 ). Upon review of the file, the Court finds that this dispute is straightforward, and th e legal issues are not complex. Thus, the Court finds that appointment of counsel is u n n e c es s a ry at this time. Should Plaintiff seek the appointment of counsel at a later stage in the proceedings, he will be required to provide the Court with a sworn statement ite m iz in g what efforts he has made to obtain legal counsel, providing the names of a tto rn e ys with whom he has discussed representation and the dates and results of such d is c u s s io n s . Accordingly, I T IS HEREBY ORDERED that Plaintiff's motion for appointment of counsel [ D o c . # 4 ] is DENIED without prejudice.

Audrey G. Fleissig A U D R E Y G FLEISSIG U N IT E D STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE D a te d this 18th day of June, 2009.