Roberto Otero v. World’s Biggest Gift Shop

Opinion

1 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

2 DISTRICT OF NEVADA

3 * * *

4 ROBERTO OTERO, Case No. 2:25-cv-01329-MMD-EJY

5 Plaintiff, ORDER 6 v.

7 WORLD’S BIGGEST GIFT SHOP,

8 Defendant.

9 10 Pending before the Court is Plaintiff’s Motion for Appointment of Counsel. ECF No. 23. 11 Plaintiff’s Motion asserts that counsel should be appointed because he lacks resources to be on 12 equal footing with World’s Biggest Gift Shop. 13 As a general proposition, a civil litigant has no right to counsel. Lassiter v. Department of 14 Social Services of Durham County, 452 U.S. 18 (1981); Storseth v. Spellman, 654 F.2d 1349, 1353 15 (9th Cir. 1981). Under “exceptional circumstances” a court may appoint counsel for indigent civil 16 litigants pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(1). Agyeman v. Corrs. Corp. of Am., 390 F.3d 1101, 17 1103 (9th Cir. 2004), cert. denied sub nom. Gerber v. Agyeman, 545 U.S. 1128 (2005). When 18 determining whether “exceptional circumstances” exist, a court must consider “the likelihood of 19 success on the merits as well as the ability of the petitioner to articulate his claims pro se in light 20 of the complexity of the legal issues involved.” Weygandt v. Look, 718 F.2d 952, 954 (9th Cir. 21 1983). 22 The Court finds that Plaintiff fails to establish the extraordinary circumstances to support 23 appointment of counsel. The lack of adequate legal knowledge, even assuming a case is legally 24 complex, is not an exceptional circumstance “in light of the legal competence of most prisoners in 25 similar situations.” Zamaro v. Moonga, 656 F. App’x 297, 299 (9th Cir. 2016). And, “the 26 Constitution does not require the elimination of all economic, intellectual, and technological 27 barriers to litigation.” Sands v. Lewis, 886 F.2d 1166, 1169 (9th Cir. 1989). See also Perez v. 1 || Cir. 1990) (finding that prisoner litigants’ lack of a legal education does not constitute exceptional 2 || circumstances). 3 Accordingly, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that Plaintiff's Motion for Appointment 4 || of Counsel (ECF No. 23) is DENIED. 5 DATED this 5th day of March, 2025. 7 ELA J. YOUGHAH UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE oll 10 1] 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28