(PS) Montue v. County of San Diego Sheriff's Department

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 Case No.: 22cv0586 DMS (DEB) JOHN MONTUE,

11 Plaintiff, ORDER DENYING MOTION FOR 12 v. APPOINTMENT OF COUNSEL 13 CITY OF SAN DIEGO, et al., 14 Defendants. 15 16 17 Pending before the Court is Plaintiff’s motion for appointment of counsel. In 18 general, there is no constitutional right to counsel in a civil case. Palmer v. Valdez, 560 19 F.3d 965, 970 (9th Cir. 2009) (citing Storseth v. Spellman, 654 F.2d 1349, 1353 (9th Cir. 20 1981)). In “exceptional circumstances,” however, a court may exercise its discretion and 21 “request an attorney to represent any person unable to afford counsel.” 28 U.S.C. § 22 1915(e)(1); Palmer, 560 F.3d at 970. The court must consider both “‘the likelihood of 23 success on the merits as well as the ability of the [Plaintiff] to articulate his claims pro se 24 in light of the complexity of the legal issues involved.’” Palmer, 560 F.3d at 970 (quoting 25 Weygandt v. Look, 718 F.2d 952, 954 (9th Cir. 1983)). At this point, there are no 26 / / / 27 / / / 28 / / / 1 ||exceptional circumstances warranting appointment of counsel. Accordingly, the Court 2 || denies Plaintiff's motion. 3 IT IS SO ORDERED. 4 ||Dated: September 12, 2023 em Dh 5 a Yn. Hon. Dana M. Sabraw, Chief Judge 6 United States District Court 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28