(PC) Ford v. Cassol ( 2021 )

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 LARRY FORD, No. 2:20-cv-2087-EFB P 12 Plaintiff, 13 v. ORDER 14 GAVIN NEWSOM, et al., 15 Defendants. 16 17 Plaintiff is a state prisoner proceeding without counsel in an action brought under 42 18 U.S.C. § 1983. He requests a 60-day extension of time to file a fourth amended complaint in 19 accordance with the court’s April 26, 2020 order. He also requests appointment of counsel. 20 Plaintiff’s request for an extension of time (ECF No. 20) is granted and he has 60 days 21 from the date this order is served to file an amended complaint. Plaintiff is cautioned that the 22 amended complaint need not be overly detailed. Instead, plaintiff need only submit a short and 23 plain statement of the facts giving rise to his claims. Plaintiff must clearly identify each 24 defendant, state what each defendant did to violate his rights, and include a request for relief. The 25 complaint should not contain legal citations and does not need to include any other documents, 26 exhibits or other forms of evidence. To assist plaintiff, the Clerk of the Court shall to send to him 27 a form complaint for use by prisoners in § 1983 actions. 28 ///// 1 Plaintiff's request for counsel (ECF No. 20) is denied. District courts lack authority to 2 || require counsel to represent indigent prisoners in section 1983 cases. Mallard v. United States 3 || Dist. Court, 490 U.S. 296, 298 (1989). In exceptional circumstances, the court may request an 4 | attorney to voluntarily to represent such a plaintiff. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(1); Terrell v. 5 | Brewer, 935 F.2d 1015, 1017 (9th Cir. 1991); Wood v. Housewright, 900 F.2d 1332, 1335-36 (9th 6 || Cir. 1990). When determining whether “exceptional circumstances” exist, the court must 7 || consider the likelihood of success on the merits as well as the ability of the plaintiff to articulate 8 | his claims pro se in light of the complexity of the legal issues involved. Palmer v. Valdez, 560 9 || F.3d 965, 970 (9th Cir. 2009). Having considered those factors, the court finds there are no 10 || exceptional circumstances in this case. 11 So ordered. 12 || Dated: May 11, 2021. Doolin / □□ hb MM A 13 EDMUND F. BRENNAN 4 UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28