(PS) Sermeno v. Fuchs ( 2024 )

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 LARRY ALTAMIRANO SERMENO, No. 2:23-CV-2624-TLN-DMC 12 Plaintiff, 13 v. ORDER 14 ERICK FUCHS, et al., 15 Defendants. 16 17 Plaintiff, who is proceeding pro se, brings this civil action. Pending before the 18 Court is Plaintiff's request for the appointment of counsel. See ECF No. 3. 19 The United States Supreme Court has ruled that district courts lack authority to 20 require counsel to represent indigent plaintiffs in civil actions. See e.g. Mallard v. United States 21 Dist. Court, 490 U.S. 296, 298 (1989). In certain exceptional circumstances, the Court may 22 request the voluntary assistance of counsel pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(1). See Terrell v. 23 Brewer, 935 F.2d 1015, 1017 (9th Cir. 1991); Wood v. Housewright, 900 F.2d 1332, 1335-36 24 (9th Cir. 1990). 25 In the present case, the Court does not at this time find the required exceptional 26 circumstances. Plaintiff's request for the appointment of counsel is contained at page 76 of his 27 first amended complaint as part of his request for relief. See ECF No. 3, pg. 76. Plaintiff does 28 not include with this request any showing of exceptional circumstances. Plaintiff's motion will 1 | be denied without prejudice. The sufficiency of Plaintiff's first amended complaint will be 2 || addressed by separate order. 3 Accordingly, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED as follows: 4 1. Plaintiff's request for the appointment of counsel, ECF No. 3, is denied 5 || without prejudice. 6 2. The Clerk of the Court is directed to terminate ECF No. 3 as a pending 7 || motion. 8 9 || Dated: September 5, 2024 Svc 10 DENNIS M. COTA 11 UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28