Stinson v. Banner Health

1 WO 6 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA

10 Sarah Christine Stinson, No. CV-24-00328-PHX-DGC 11 Plaintiff, ORDER v. Banner Health, 14 Defendant.

17 Plaintiff moves for a court-appointed Iraqi Arabic language interpreter during depositions and court appearances. Doc. 29. The motion will be denied.

19 Plaintiff does not explain why she cannot afford to retain a private interpreter. The Court denied Plaintiff’s motion to proceed in forma pauperis because her household income of $72,000 is 170% greater than the poverty guideline, she owns a home in Scottsdale, Arizona worth more than $800,000, and she had more than $3,000 in checking accounts. Docs. 6, 7. Even if Plaintiff was indigent, the in forma pauperis statute, 28 24 U.S.C. § 1915, does not authorize the expenditure of public funds for court-appointed interpreters in civil cases. See Chavira v. Oh, No. 2:23-CV-04051-DOC-AJR, 2024 WL 26 1699103, at *1 (C.D. Cal. Apr. 8, 2024) (same and citing cases); see also Hrbenic v. Ryan, No. CV-14-02251-PHX-JAT (DMF), 2016 WL 4376513, at *1 (D. Ariz. Aug. 17, 2016) (“[N]o case from the United States Supreme Court or the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals || recogniz[es] the right to a court-appointed interpreter in a civil proceeding.”); Ali v. Gerry, No. 12-CV-185-JL, 2012 WL 4848889, at *2 (D.N.H. Oct. 10, 2012) (“There is no || constitutional right to free interpreter services in federal civil cases.”’).

4 Plaintiff asserts that English is not her first language. Doc. 29 at 1. But the record || in this case, including the telephonic scheduling conference in which Plaintiff participated 6|| (see Doc. 25), shows that Plaintiff has sufficient English proficiency to pursue her claims at this pre-trial stage of litigation. See Desmaine v. Columbia Sportswear Co., No. 3:24- || CV-00067-SB, 2024 WL 865873, at *3 (D. Or. Feb. 29, 2024).

9 IT IS ORDERED that Plaintiff's motion for a court-appointed Iraqi Arabic janguage interpreter (Doc. 29) is denied.

11 Dated this 24th day of October, 2024. » aaa 6, Cater phel 5 . David G. Campbell Senior United States District Judge