(PC) Muhammad v. Ross ( 2021 )

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 KIFA MUHAMMAD AKA MARCUS No. 2:21-cv-0776 CKD P 11 JOHNSON, 12 Plaintiff, ORDER 13 v. 14 SEAN ROSS, et al., 15 Defendants. 16 17 Plaintiff is a county inmate proceeding pro se in this civil rights action filed pursuant to 18 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Plaintiff requests that the court appoint counsel. District courts lack authority 19 to require counsel to represent indigent prisoners in section 1983 cases. Mallard v. United States 20 Dist. Court, 490 U.S. 296, 298 (1989). In exceptional circumstances, the court may request an 21 attorney to voluntarily represent such a plaintiff. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(1); Terrell v. Brewer, 22 935 F.2d 1015, 1017 (9th Cir. 1991); Wood v. Housewright, 900 F.2d 1332, 1335-36 (9th Cir. 23 1990). When determining whether “exceptional circumstances” exist, the court must consider 24 plaintiff’s likelihood of success on the merits as well as the ability of the plaintiff to articulate his 25 claims pro se in light of the complexity of the legal issues involved. Palmer v. Valdez, 560 F.3d 26 965, 970 (9th Cir. 2009) (district court did not abuse discretion in declining to appoint counsel). 27 The burden of demonstrating exceptional circumstances is on the plaintiff. Id. Circumstances 28 1 || common to most prisoners, such as lack of legal education and limited law library access, do not 2 || establish exceptional circumstances that warrant a request for voluntary assistance of counsel. 3 Having considered the factors under Palmer, the court finds that plaintiff has failed to 4 || meet his burden of demonstrating exceptional circumstances warranting the appointment of 5 || counsel at this time. 6 Accordingly, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that plaintiff’ s request for the appointment of 7 || counsel (ECF No. 2) is denied without prejudice. 8 | Dated: May 6, 2021 A ) 4 / Pita Cat pK. Ager ? CAROLYN K. DELANEY ; 10 UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 11 12 13 14 15 16 | 12/muha0776.31.docx 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28