(PC) Pavao v. Unknown ( 2020 )

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 8 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 9 10 ENRICO PAVAO, No. 2:20-cv-1693 TLN CKD P 11 Plaintiff, 12 v. ORDER 13 UNKNOWN, 14 Defendant. 15 16 Plaintiff is a state prisoner proceeding pro se in an action brought pursuant to 42 U.S.C. 17 § 1983. Plaintiff requests that the court appoint counsel. ECF No. 11. District courts lack 18 authority to require counsel to represent indigent prisoners in section 1983 cases. Mallard v. 19 United States Dist. Court, 490 U.S. 296, 298 (1989). In exceptional circumstances, the court may 20 request an attorney to voluntarily represent such a plaintiff. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(1); Terrell 21 v. Brewer, 935 F.2d 1015, 1017 (9th Cir. 1991); Wood v. Housewright, 900 F.2d 1332, 1335-36 22 (9th Cir. 1990). When determining whether “exceptional circumstances” exist, the court must 23 consider plaintiff’s likelihood of success on the merits as well as the ability of the plaintiff to 24 articulate his claims pro se in light of the complexity of the legal issues involved. Palmer v. 25 Valdez, 560 F.3d 965, 970 (9th Cir. 2009) (district court did not abuse discretion in declining to 26 appoint counsel). The burden of demonstrating exceptional circumstances is on the plaintiff. Id. 27 Circumstances common to most prisoners, such as lack of legal education and limited law library 28 access, do not establish exceptional circumstances that warrant a request for voluntary assistance 1 | of counsel. 2 Having considered the factors under Palmer, the court finds that plaintiff has failed to 3 | meet his burden of demonstrating exceptional circumstances warranting the appointment of 4 | counsel at this time. 5 Accordingly, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that plaintiffs request for the appointment of 6 | counsel (ECF No. 11) is denied without prejudice. 7 | Dated: November 19, 2020 Pee a4 if / bas CAN fr fA. b“eU rg CAROLYN K. DELANEY 9 UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 10 11 12 13 14 | 12/pavaie93.3102) 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28