(PC) Young v. Lee ( 2020 )

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 8 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 9 10 RONNIE G. YOUNG, No. 2:17-cv-2596 TLN CKD P 11 Plaintiff, 12 v. ORDER 13 LEE, et al., 14 Defendants. 15 16 Plaintiff is a former county inmate now in state custody who is proceeding pro se in this 17 civil rights action filed pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Plaintiff requests that the court appoint 18 counsel. District courts lack authority to require counsel to represent indigent prisoners in section 19 1983 cases. Mallard v. United States Dist. Court, 490 U.S. 296, 298 (1989). In exceptional 20 circumstances, the court may request an attorney to voluntarily represent such a plaintiff. See 28 21 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(1); Terrell v. Brewer, 935 F.2d 1015, 1017 (9th Cir. 1991); Wood v. 22 Housewright, 900 F.2d 1332, 1335-36 (9th Cir. 1990). When determining whether “exceptional 23 circumstances” exist, the court must consider plaintiff’s likelihood of success on the merits as 24 well as the ability of the plaintiff to articulate his claims pro se in light of the complexity of the 25 legal issues involved. Palmer v. Valdez, 560 F.3d 965, 970 (9th Cir. 2009) (district court did not 26 abuse discretion in declining to appoint counsel). The burden of demonstrating exceptional 27 circumstances is on the plaintiff. Id. Circumstances common to most prisoners, such as lack of 28 legal education and limited law library access, do not establish exceptional circumstances that 1 | warrant a request for voluntary assistance of counsel. 2 Having considered the factors under Palmer, the court finds that plaintiff has failed to 3 | meet his burden of demonstrating exceptional circumstances warranting the appointment of 4 | counsel at this time. 5 Accordingly, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that plaintiffs request for the appointment of 6 | counsel (ECF No. 68) is denied without prejudice. 7 | Dated: December 4, 2020 Pee a4 if / bas CAN fr fA. b“eU rg CAROLYN K. DELANEY 9 UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 10 11 12 13 14 t2/youn259631(5).docx 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28