(PC) Muhammad v. Orr ( 2021 )

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 8 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 9 10 ANSAR EL MUHAMMAD, No. 2:19-cv-1289 KJM CKD P 11 Plaintiff, 12 v. ORDER 13 F. ORR, et al., 14 Defendants. 15 16 Plaintiff is a state prisoner proceeding pro se in an action brought under 42 U.S.C. § 17 1983. Plaintiff requests that the court appoint counsel. District courts lack authority to require 18 counsel to represent indigent prisoners in section 1983 cases. Mallard v. United States Dist. 19 Court, 490 U.S. 296, 298 (1989). In exceptional circumstances, the court may request an attorney 20 to voluntarily represent such a plaintiff. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(1); Terrell v. Brewer, 935 F.2d 21 1015, 1017 (9th Cir. 1991); Wood v. Housewright, 900 F.2d 1332, 1335-36 (9th Cir. 1990). 22 When determining whether “exceptional circumstances” exist, the court must consider plaintiff’s 23 likelihood of success on the merits as well as the ability of the plaintiff to articulate his claims pro 24 se in light of the complexity of the legal issues involved. Palmer v. Valdez, 560 F.3d 965, 970 25 (9th Cir. 2009) (district court did not abuse discretion in declining to appoint counsel). The 26 burden of demonstrating exceptional circumstances is on the plaintiff. Id. Circumstances 27 common to most prisoners, such as lack of legal education and limited law library access, do not 28 establish exceptional circumstances that warrant a request for voluntary assistance of counsel. 1 Having considered the factors under Palmer, the court finds that plaintiff has failed to 2 || meet his burden of demonstrating exceptional circumstances warranting the appointment of 3 || counsel at this time. 4 Plaintiff has also filed a motion for an extension of time to respond to defendants’ motion 5 || for summary judgment. See Houston v. Lack, 487 U.S. 266 (1988) (applying the prison mailbox 6 || rule). This motion was filed on the same day that the court granted plaintiff a 30-day extension of 7 || time. See ECF No. 47. Therefore, plaintiff’s response is not due until June 11, 2021. As the 8 || deadline has already been extended, the court will deny plaintiff’s motion as moot. 9 Accordingly, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that: 10 1. Plaintiff's request for the appointment of counsel (ECF No. 48) is denied without 11 prejudice. 12 2. Plaintiffs motion for an extension of time to respond to defendants’ motion for 13 summary judgment (ECF No. 49) is denied as moot. 14 | Dated: May 20, 2021 Ao Hug fe... CAMP i. Oat 1S CAROLYNK.DELANEY 16 UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 17 18 19 20 21 2 12/muha1289.31+eot(2).docx 23 24 25 26 27 28