(PC) Lavery v. Dhillon ( 2020 )

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 8 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 9 10 JOSEPH LAVERY, No. 2:13-cv-2083 MCE AC P 11 Plaintiff, 12 v. ORDER 13 B. DHILLON, et al., 14 Defendants. 15 16 Plaintiff, a state prisoner proceeding pro se with a civil rights action, has requested 17 appointment of counsel. ECF No. 226. The instant motion for the appointment of counsel was 18 docketed the same day that the court issued an order denying plaintiff’s most recent motions for 19 the appointment of counsel filed May 29, 2020 and June 4, 2020. See ECF Nos. 223, 224, 225. 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 district court may request the 23 voluntary assistance of counsel pursuant to 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 The test for exceptional circumstances requires the court to evaluate the plaintiff’s 26 likelihood of success on the merits and the ability of the plaintiff to articulate his claims pro se in 27 light of the complexity of the legal issues involved. See Wilborn v. Escalderon, 789 F.2d 1328, 28 1331 (9th Cir. 1986); Weygandt v. Look, 718 F.2d 952, 954 (9th Cir. 1983). Circumstances wOAOe EUOUTININS NN OUIOC □□ 1 || common to most prisoners, such as lack of legal education and limited law library access, do not 2 || establish exceptional circumstances that would warrant a request for voluntary assistance of 3 || counsel. 4 Other than plaintiffs assertion that he is unable to do legal work due to prison 5 || reconfiguration related to the pandemic, this particular request for the appointment of counsel 6 || provides no information that is substantively any different from plaintiffs most recently filed 7 || motions, which were denied. 8 Accordingly, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that plaintiffs motion for the appointment of 9 | counsel, filed June 17, 2020 (ECF No. 226), is DENIED. 10 | DATED: June 22, 2020 ~ u Chthien—Chare ALLISON CLAIRE 12 UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28