Hagerman v. Cornutt ( 2024 )

1 2 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 3 DISTRICT OF NEVADA 4 * * * 5 Mark Hagerman, Case No. 2:23-cv-00491-APG-DJA 6 Plaintiff, 7 Order v. 8 Cornutt, et al., 9 Defendants. 10 11 Before the Court is Plaintiff Mark Hagerman’s motion for appointment of counsel. (ECF 12 No. 33). The Court finds that Plaintiff has not demonstrated exceptional circumstances. It thus 13 denies his motion. 14 A litigant does not have a constitutional right to appointed counsel in 42 U.S.C. § 1983 15 civil rights claims. Storseth v. Spellman, 654 F.2d 1349, 1353 (9th Cir. 1981). Under 28 U.S.C. 16 § 1915(e)(1), “[t]he court may request an attorney to represent any person unable to afford 17 counsel.” However, the court will appoint counsel for indigent civil litigants only in “exceptional 18 circumstances.” Palmer v. Valdez, 560 F.3d 965, 970 (9th Cir. 2009) (§ 1983 action). “When 19 determining whether ‘exceptional circumstances’ exist, a court must consider ‘the likelihood of 20 success on the merits as well as the ability of the petitioner to articulate his claims pro se in light 21 of the complexity of the legal issues involved.’” Id. “Neither of these considerations is 22 dispositive and instead must be viewed together.” Id. 23 The Court denies Plaintiff’s motion because it does not find that he has demonstrated 24 exceptional circumstances. Although Plaintiff explains that he has had difficulty accessing legal 25 resources due to a lockdown at the prison for three weeks and is suffering from mental health 26 issues, he describes circumstances that many indigent inmate litigants face. Additionally, the 27 case is at the very early stages, with Defendants having recently answered the complaint, so it is 1 unclear at this stage whether Plaintiff has a likelihood of success on the merits. Finally, thus far, 2 Plaintiff has demonstrated an ability to articulate his claims pro se. 3 4 ORDER 5 IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that Plaintiff’s motion for appointment of counsel (ECF 6 No. 33) is denied. 7 8 DATED: February 26, 2024 9 DANIEL J. ALBREGTS 10 UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27