Jurbala v. Holt et al
Filing
13
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER DENYING 12 MOTION to Appoint Counsel filed by Charles D. Jurbala without prejudice. Signed by Magistrate Judge Martin C. Carlson on 2/22/13. (pw)
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA
CHARLES JURBALA
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Plaintiff
v.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Defendants.
Civil No. 3:12-CV-1092
(Judge Nealon)
(Magistrate Judge Carlson)
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER
This matter comes before the court on a request to appoint counsel for the
plaintiff, a pro se litigant. (Doc. 12.) We appreciate the plaintiff’s interest in securing
court-appointed counsel, but also recognize that there is neither a constitutional nor
a statutory right to counsel for civil litigants. Parham v. Johnson, 126 F.3d 454, 45657 (3d Cir. 1997); Tabron v. Grace, 6 F.3d 147, 153 (3d Cir. 1993). Instead, 28 U.S.C.
§ 1915(e)(1) simply provides that “[t]he court may request an attorney to represent any
person unable to employ counsel.” Under §1915(e)(1), a district court’s appointment
of counsel is discretionary and must be made on a case-by-case basis. Tabron, 6 F.3d
at 157-58. In Parham, the United States Court of Appeals outlined the standards to
be considered by courts when reviewing an application to appoint counsel pursuant
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to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(1). In passing on such requests we must first:
“[D]etermine[] that the plaintiff's claim has some merit, then [we] should
consider the following factors: (1) the plaintiff's ability to present his or
her own case; (2) the complexity of the legal issues; (3) the degree to
which factual investigation will be necessary and the ability of the
plaintiff to pursue such investigation; (4) the amount a case is likely to
turn on credibility determinations; (5) whether the case will require the
testimony of expert witnesses; [and] (6) whether the plaintiff can attain
and afford counsel on his own behalf.”
Parham v. Johnson, 126 F.3d at 457.
In this case our analysis of these factors leads us to conclude that counsel should
not be appointed in this case at the present time. At the outset, we believe that we
should defer any such decision until after we have had the opportunity to assess the
first benchmark standard we must address, the question of whether the plaintiff’s
claims have arguable legal merit. In our view, it would be inappropriate to appoint
counsel until we have the opportunity to conduct this merits analysis in this matter.
Moreover, while we understand that the plaintiff doubtless faces some obstacles in
bringing this action, to date the plaintiff has demonstrated an ability to effectively
present his own case. Furthermore, the actual investigation that the plaintiff has to do
is minimal, since the pleadings show that the plaintiff is fully aware of the bases for
these claims against the defendants.
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Taking all of these factors into account we DENY this request to appoint
counsel (Doc. 12.), at this time without prejudice to re-examining this issue as this
litigation progresses.
SO ORDERED, this 22d day of February 2013..
S/Martin C. Carlson
Martin C. Carlson
United States Magistrate Judge
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