Owens v. John Doe et al

Filing 26

ORDER granting Plaintiff's 21 Motion for Extension of Time and denying without prejudice Plaintiff's 22 Motion to Appoint Counsel. The deadline to complete discovery is extended from January 9, 2018 to February 8, 2018. The deadline to file and serve dispositive motions is extended from February 8, 2018 to March 12, 2018. Signed by Hon. Brian A Tsuchida. **2 PAGE(S), PRINT ALL**(Mychal Owens, Prisoner ID: 878377) (TH)

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1 2 3 4 5 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON AT SEATTLE 6 7 8 MYCHAL OWENS, Plaintiff, 10 11 ORDER GRANTING MOTION FOR EXTENSION OF TIME TO COMPLETE DISCOVERY AND DENYING MOTION TO APPOINT OF COUNSEL v. JOHN DOE, et al., 12 13 CASE NO. C17-1027-JCC-BAT Defendants. 9 Plaintiff Mychal Owens has filed a motion for extension of time to complete discovery 14 (Dkt. 21) and a motion to appoint counsel (Dkt. 22). For the following reasons, the Court 15 GRANTS the motion for extension of time and DENIES the motion to appoint counsel. 16 17 EXTENSION OF TIME TO COMPLETE DISCOVERY Previously, the Court granted Mr. Owens a 30-day extension of time, from December 10, 18 2017, to January 9, 2018, to complete discovery because he was being transferred to another 19 institution and would not have access to his legal materials during the transfer. Dkt. 17, 20. Mr. 20 Owens now requests an additional extension of time, stating that he has not received his legal 21 materials at his new facility. Dkt. 21. Defendants have responded stating that they do not oppose 22 an extension of time for 30 days. Dkt. 24. The Court GRANTS the motion (Dkt. 21) and 23 ORDERS as follows: 24 ORDER GRANTING MOTION FOR EXTENSION OF TIME TO COMPLETE DISCOVERY AND DENYING MOTION TO APPOINT OF COUNSEL - 1 25 1 1. 2 3 4 The deadline to complete discovery is extended from January 9, 2018 to February 8, 2018. 2. The deadline to file and serve dispositive motions is extended from February 8, 2018 to March 12, 2018. 5 MOTION TO APPOINT COUNSEL 6 The Court previously denied Mr. Owens’s two motions to appoint counsel without 7 prejudice. Dkt. 15. Mr. Owens has renewed his request for appointment of counsel. Dkt. 22. As 8 the Court noted before, generally, a person has no right to counsel in a civil action. See Campbell 9 v. Burt, 141 F.3d 927, 931 (9th Cir. 1998). The Court may appoint counsel for indigent civil 10 litigants under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(1), but only under “exceptional circumstances.” Agyeman v. 11 Corrections Corp. of Am., 390 F.3d 1101, 1103 (9th Cir. 2004). When determining whether 12 “exceptional circumstances” exist, the Court considers “the likelihood of success on the merits as 13 well as the ability of the [plaintiff] to articulate his claims pro se in light of the complexity of the 14 legal issues involved.” Weygandt v. Look, 718 F.2d 952, 954 (9th Cir. 1983). The Court finds 15 that, as with his first two requests, Mr. Owens has not presented exceptional circumstances that 16 would justify the appointment of counsel at this early stage of the litigation. Accordingly, the 17 Court DENIES Mr. Owens’s motion to appoint counsel (Dkt. 22) without prejudice. 18 The Clerk shall send a copy of this Order to Mr. Owens. 19 DATED this 18th day of December, 2017. 20 A 21 BRIAN A. TSUCHIDA United States Magistrate Judge 22 23 24 25 ORDER GRANTING MOTION FOR EXTENSION OF TIME TO COMPLETE DISCOVERY AND DENYING MOTION TO APPOINT OF COUNSEL - 2

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