(PC) Kester v. Kokor

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 8 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 9 10 JAMES KESTER, No. 2:20-cv-1516 JAM AC P 11 Plaintiff, 12 v. ORDER 13 KOKOR, et al., 14 Defendants. 15 16 Plaintiff, a state prisoner proceeding pro se with a civil rights action, has requested 17 appointment of counsel. ECF No. 27. The United States Supreme Court has ruled that district 18 courts lack authority to require counsel to represent indigent prisoners in § 1983 cases. Mallard 19 v. United States Dist. Court, 490 U.S. 296, 298 (1989). In certain exceptional circumstances, the 20 district court may request the voluntary assistance of counsel pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(1). 21 Terrell v. Brewer, 935 F.2d 1015, 1017 (9th Cir. 1991); Wood v. Housewright, 900 F.2d 1332, 22 1335-36 (9th Cir. 1990). 23 “When determining whether ‘exceptional circumstances’ exist, a court must consider ‘the 24 likelihood of success on the merits as well as the ability of the [plaintiff] to articulate his claims 25 pro se in light of the complexity of the legal issues involved.’” Palmer v. Valdez, 560 F.3d 965, 26 970 (9th Cir. 2009) (quoting Weygandt v. Look, 718 F.2d 952, 954 (9th Cir. 1983)). The burden 27 of demonstrating exceptional circumstances is on the plaintiff. Id. Circumstances common to 28 most prisoners, such as lack of legal education and limited law library access, do not establish 1 | exceptional circumstances that would warrant a request for voluntary assistance of counsel. 2 Plaintiff requests counsel on the grounds that the issues are complex and he is unable to 3 | afford an attorney. ECF No. 27. At this stage, the court does not find that the issues are overly 4 || complex, and plaintiff has thus far demonstrated that he is capable of articulating his claims 5 || without assistance. Plaintiff has therefore failed to show the existence of extraordinary 6 || circumstances warranting the appointment of counsel. 7 Accordingly, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that plaintiff's motion for the appointment of 8 || counsel, ECF No. 27, is DENIED. 9 | DATED: December 20, 2021 ~ 10 ththienr—Chnp—e_ ALLISON CLAIRE 11 UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28