(PC) Perkins v. O'Reilly ( 2020 )

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 DE’VON-SAMUEL JAMES No. 2:18-cv-1827-TLN-EFB P SINGLETON PERKINS, 12 Plaintiff, 13 ORDER v. 14 D. BAUGHMAN, et al., 15 Defendants. 16 17 18 Plaintiff is a state prisoner proceeding without counsel in an action brought under 42 19 U.S.C. § 1983. He again requests that the court appoint counsel. As plaintiff has been previously 20 informed (see ECF No. 16), district courts lack authority to require counsel to represent indigent 21 prisoners in section 1983 cases. Mallard v. United States Dist. Court, 490 U.S. 296, 298 (1989). 22 In exceptional circumstances, the court may request an attorney to voluntarily to represent such a 23 plaintiff. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(1); Terrell v. Brewer, 935 F.2d 1015, 1017 (9th Cir. 1991); 24 Wood v. Housewright, 900 F.2d 1332, 1335-36 (9th Cir. 1990). When determining whether 25 “exceptional circumstances” exist, the court must consider the likelihood of success on the merits 26 as well as the ability of the plaintiff to articulate his claims pro se in light of the complexity of the 27 legal issues involved. Palmer v. Valdez, 560 F.3d 965, 970 (9th Cir. 2009). Having considered 28 those factors, the court still finds there are no exceptional circumstances in this case. 6 LO0°UV □□ PERINCR YT BP MMVMVUTEIOCITI OO PH Ve ter OY oe 1 Accordingly, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that plaintiffs request for appointment of 2 || counsel (ECF No. 32) is denied. 3 | DATED: June 24, 2020. $ Yop sy / = g 4 EDMUND F. BRENNAN 5 UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28