(PC) Rader v. County of Placer ( 2020 )

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 JACOB RADER, No. 2:19-cv-1265 AC P 12 Plaintiff, 13 v. ORDER 14 COUNTY OF PLACER, et al., 15 Defendants. 16 17 Plaintiff requests appointment of counsel on the ground he is indigent. Plaintiff’s request 18 is set forth on a copy of his application to proceed in forma pauperis, with a change in title. ECF 19 No. 3. 20 The United States Supreme Court has ruled that district courts lack authority to require 21 counsel to represent indigent prisoners in § 1983 cases. Mallard v. United States Dist. Court, 490 22 U.S. 296, 298 (1989). In certain exceptional circumstances, the court may request an attorney to 23 voluntarily represent such a plaintiff. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(1). Terrell v. Brewer, 935 F.2d 24 1015, 1017 (9th Cir. 1991); Wood v. Housewright, 900 F.2d 1332, 1335-36 (9th Cir. 1990). 25 When determining whether “exceptional circumstances” exist, the court must consider plaintiff’s 26 likelihood of success on the merits as well as the ability of the plaintiff to articulate his claims pro 27 se in light of the complexity of the legal issues involved. See Palmer v. Valdez, 560 F.3d 965, 28 970 (9th Cir. 2009) (district court did not abuse discretion in declining to appoint counsel). The 1 | burden of demonstrating exceptional circumstances is on plaintiff. Circumstances common to 2 || most prisoners, such as lack of legal education and limited law library access, do not establish 3 || exceptional circumstances warranting the appointment of voluntary counsel. Id. 4 Plaintiffs indigency does not, standing alone, establish exceptional circumstances 5 || warranting appointment of voluntary counsel. Moreover, the complaint in this action, filed July 6 || 9, 2019, has not yet been screened by the court pursuant to 28 U.S.C. $1915A, and therefore the 7 || court is unable at this time to assess plaintiff’s likelihood of success or his ability to articulate his 8 || claims pro se. Plaintiff may renew his request for appointment of counsel after the court has 9 || screened his complaint. 10 Accordingly, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that plaintiffs request for appointment of 11 || counsel, ECF No. 3, is denied without prejudice. 12 | DATED: March 23, 2020 ~ 13 Chthien—Chare ALLISON CLAIRE 14 UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28