(PC) Townsend v. Ruiz ( 2020 )

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 8 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 9 10 ARTHUR DEWAYNE TOWNSEND, JR., No. 2:20-cv-1179 KJM AC P 11 Plaintiff, 12 v. ORDER 13 MIKE RUIZ, 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. 6. In support of this request, he asserts in part that he is unable 18 to afford representation and that because of the coronavirus pandemic, he has limited access to 19 the prison law library. See ECF No. 6 at 1-2. He further asserts that the complexity of the issues 20 in his case as well as his limited knowledge of the law warrant court-appointed counsel. See id. 21 at 1-2. 22 The United States Supreme Court has ruled that district courts lack authority to require 23 counsel to represent indigent prisoners in § 1983 cases. Mallard v. United States Dist. Court, 490 24 U.S. 296, 298 (1989). In certain exceptional circumstances, the district court may request the 25 voluntary assistance of counsel pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(1). Terrell v. Brewer, 935 F.2d 26 1015, 1017 (9th Cir. 1991); Wood v. Housewright, 900 F.2d 1332, 1335-36 (9th Cir. 1990). 27 The test for exceptional circumstances requires the court to evaluate the plaintiff’s 28 likelihood of success on the merits and the ability of the plaintiff to articulate his claims pro se in MASS 2 SUING Ne UIC OI IIe AY ee 1 | light of the complexity of the legal issues involved. See Wilborn v. Escalderon, 789 F.2d 1328, 2 1331 (9th Cir. 1986); Weygandt v. Look, 718 F.2d 952, 954 (9th Cir. 1983). Circumstances 3 || common to most prisoners, such as lack of legal education and limited law library access, do not 4 | establish exceptional circumstances that would warrant a request for voluntary assistance of 5 || counsel. For these reasons, the court does not find the required exceptional circumstances. 6 Accordingly, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that plaintiffs motion for the appointment of 7 || counsel (ECF No. 6) is DENIED. 8 || DATED: June 30, 2020 ~ 9 Attlien— ALLISON CLAIRE 10 UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28