(PS) Reedy v. State of California ( 2022 )

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 JUSTIN G. REEDY, No. 2:21-cv-0223-TLN-CKD PS 12 Plaintiff, ORDER 13 v. (ECF No. 29) 14 STATE OF CALIFORNIA, et al., 15 Defendants. 16 17 Plaintiff requests the court to appoint counsel for his civil case.1 (ECF No. 29.) It is 18 “well-established that there is generally no constitutional right to counsel in civil cases.” United 19 States v. Sardone, 94 F.3d 1233, 1236 (9th Cir. 1996). Under “exceptional circumstances,” 20 however, a court may appoint counsel for an indigent civil litigant pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 21 1915(e)(1). When determining whether “exceptional circumstances” exist, a court considers both 22 the likelihood of success on the merits as well as the ability of the pro se litigant to articulate the 23 claims pro se in light of the complexity of the legal issues involved. Palmer v. Valdez, 560 F.3d 24 965, 970 (9th Cir. 2009). 25 In this case, plaintiff states the factual allegations in his second amended complaint are 26 comprised of his own experiences and grievances, but that he received assistance from others in 27 28 1 This motion is referred to the undersigned under 28 U.S.C. § 636 and Local Rule 302(c)(21). 1 | drafting the complaints and other papers filed in this case. Currently, a hearing on defendants’ 2 || motions to dismiss (ECF Nos. 16, 17) is scheduled to take place on January 12, 2022. Plaintiff 3 || indicates that he did not know an oral argument would be scheduled on the pending motions. 4 | Plaintiff states he has cognitive limitations that will frustrate his attempts to make or respond to 5 || oral arguments without assistance. Plaintiff therefore requests the appointment of counsel either 6 || to assist him in prosecuting this case, or for the limited purpose of assisting him at this and any 7 || other hearings that may take place. 8 Plaintiffs claims are not unusually complex and can be reasonably prosecuted by a pro se 9 | plaintiff. Although plaintiff states he will have difficulty making and/or responding to oral 10 || arguments against both the Deputy Attorney General and the County defendants’ private counsel, 11 | plaintiff is advised he will not be penalized for standing on his written arguments to oppose the 12 || pending motions. 13 The court is sympathetic to the difficulties faced by pro se litigants in litigating their own 14 || cases in federal court. However, the court has extremely limited resources to appoint attorneys in 15 || civil cases and does not find that exceptional circumstances warrant the appointment of counsel in 16 || this case at this time. 17 Accordingly, for the reasons set forth, IT IS ORDERED that plaintiff's motion for 18 || appointment of counsel (ECF No. 29) is DENIED. 19 | Dated: January 3, 2022 / a8 } i | / p , a ce 20 CAROLYNK. DELANEY 21 UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 22 23 || 8Reedy21cv0223.36 24 25 26 27 28