(PC) Tan v. Yuba County Jail

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 KENNETH EDWARD TAN, No. 2:24-cv-00437-EFB (PC) 12 Plaintiff, 13 v. ORDER 14 YUBA COUNTY JAIL, et al., 15 Defendants. 16 17 Plaintiff is a state prisoner proceeding without counsel in an action brought pursuant to 42 18 U.S.C. § 1983. Plaintiff asks the court to appoint counsel. District courts lack authority to 19 require counsel to represent indigent prisoners in § 1983 cases. Mallard v. United States Dist. 20 Court, 490 U.S. 296, 298 (1989). In exceptional circumstances, the court may request an attorney 21 to voluntarily to represent such a plaintiff. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(1); Terrell v. Brewer, 935 22 F.2d 1015, 1017 (9th Cir. 1991); Wood v. Housewright, 900 F.2d 1332, 1335-36 (9th Cir. 1990). 23 When determining whether “exceptional circumstances” exist, the court must consider the 24 likelihood of success on the merits as well as the ability of the plaintiff to articulate his claims pro 25 se in light of the complexity of the legal issues involved. Palmer v. Valdez, 560 F.3d 965, 970 26 (9th Cir. 2009). Plaintiff has failed to show exceptional circumstances. 27 ///// 28 ///// ] Plaintiff's motion for appointment of counsel (ECF No. 36) is DENIED. 2 3 | Dated: June 27, 2025 La btn = 2y EDMUND F. BRENNAN 4 UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 5 6 7 8 9 10 1] 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28