(PC) Garces v. Pickett ( 2020 )

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 8 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 9 10 LUIS MANUEL GARCES, No. 2:17-cv-0319 JAM AC P 11 Plaintiff, 12 v. ORDER 13 J. PICKETT, 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. 116. Plaintiff previously filed motions to appoint counsel on 18 February 10, 2017, ECF No. 3; September 26, 2017, ECF No. 20; January 11, 2019, ECF No. 39; 19 and June 14, 2019, ECF No. 83. Each motion was denied. See ECF Nos. 9, 21, 44, & 84. 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). In his present Gt □□ EAINTT ENN RAMU Ea ete AY ee 1 | request, plaintiff states that he cannot afford counsel, his imprisonment will limit his ability to 2 | litigate, he has limited access to the law library, and his attempts to secure private counsel have 3 || been unsuccessful. See ECF No. 116 at 1-2. Circumstances common to most prisoners, such as 4 | lack of legal education and limited law library access, do not establish exceptional circumstances 5 || that would warrant a request for voluntary assistance of counsel. 6 Accordingly, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that plaintiffs motion for the appointment of 7 || counsel, ECF No. 116, is denied. 8 | DATED: July 20, 2020 ~ 9 Hthren— Llane 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