(PC) Ruiz v. Woodfill ( 2021 )

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 ROGELIO MAY RUIZ, No. 2:19-cv-2118 MCE KJN P 12 Plaintiff, 13 v. ORDER 14 D. WOODFILL, 15 Defendant. 16 17 Plaintiff is a state prisoner, proceeding pro se, in an action brought under 42 U.S.C. 18 § 1983. Plaintiff renews his request for the appointment of counsel. Plaintiff asks the court to 19 appoint a bilingual attorney to also serve as an interpreter for plaintiff. The court is unable to read 20 the rest of plaintiff’s motion because it is written in Spanish. (ECF No. 51 at 1-5 (§ III to end).) 21 Plaintiff has been informed that the court has no authority to appoint an interpreter. (ECF 22 No. 49 at 2.) See also Ruiz v. Orozco, No. 1:19-cv-0048 AWI GSA (E.D. Cal. Aug. 13, 2020). 23 Moreover, as was previously explained to plaintiff, district courts lack authority to require 24 counsel to represent indigent prisoners in section 1983 cases. Mallard v. United States Dist. 25 Court, 490 U.S. 296, 298 (1989). In exceptional circumstances, the court may request an attorney 26 to voluntarily represent such a plaintiff. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(1). Terrell v. Brewer, 935 F.2d 27 1015, 1017 (9th Cir. 1991); Wood v. Housewright, 900 F.2d 1332, 1335-36 (9th Cir. 1990). 28 When determining whether “exceptional circumstances” exist, the court must consider plaintiff’s 1 | likelihood of success on the merits as well as the ability of the plaintiff to articulate his claims pro 2 | sein light of the complexity of the legal issues involved. Palmer v. Valdez, 560 F.3d 965, 970 3 || (9th Cir. 2009) (district court did not abuse discretion in declining to appoint counsel). The 4 || burden of demonstrating exceptional circumstances is on the plaintiff. Id. Circumstances 5 || common to most prisoners, such as lack of legal education and limited law library access, do not 6 || establish exceptional circumstances that warrant a request for voluntary assistance of counsel. 7 Although plaintiffs circumstances are challenging, such circumstances do not 8 | demonstrate that plaintiff's case is exceptional under the law. Indeed, in light of the pending 9 || motion to revoke plaintiff's in forma pauperis status, it is unclear at this juncture whether the 10 || instant action will be heard on the merits. Following review of the record, the court does not find 11 || the exceptional circumstances in this case required by the Ninth Circuit. 12 However, in an abundance of caution, plaintiff is granted one final extension of time to 13 | file, in English, an opposition to the pending motion. Plaintiffs failure to timely comply with 14 | this order will result in a recommendation that the motion be granted. 15 Accordingly, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that: 16 1. Plaintiffs motion for the appointment of counsel (ECF No. 51) is denied without 17 || prejudice; and 18 2. Plaintiff is granted thirty days from the date of this order to file, in English, an 19 || opposition to defendant’s January 14, 2021 motion (ECF No. 40). 20 | Dated: April 23, 2021 Aectl Aharon 22 KENDALL J. NE UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 23 54 □□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□ 25 26 27 28