(PC) Godinez v. Kernan

8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA RAFAEL GODINEZ, No. 2:18-cv-2921-TLN-EFB P 12 Plaintiff, 13 v. ORDER SCOTT KERNAN, et al., 15 Defendants.

17 Plaintiff is a state prisoner proceeding without counsel in an action brought under 42 18 U.S.C. § 1983. He has again requested that the court appoint counsel. As plaintiff was previously informed, see ECF No. 20, district courts lack authority to require counsel to represent indigent prisoners in section 1983 cases. Mallard v. United States Dist. Court, 490 U.S. 296, 298 (1989). In exceptional circumstances, the court may request an attorney to voluntarily to represent such a plaintiff. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(1); Terrell v. Brewer, 935 F.2d 1015, 1017 (9th Cir. 1991); Wood v. Housewright, 900 F.2d 1332, 1335-36 (9th Cir. 1990). When determining whether “exceptional circumstances” exist, the court must consider the likelihood of success on the merits as well as the ability of the plaintiff to articulate his claims pro se in light of the complexity of the legal issues involved. Palmer v. Valdez, 560 F.3d 965, 970 (9th Cir. 2009).

27 Having considered those factors, the court finds there are no exceptional circumstances in this case.

1 Accordingly, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that plaintiffs request for appointment of || counsel (ECF No. 32) is denied.

3 | DATED: January 22, 2020. tid, PDEA 4 EDMUND F. BRENNAN ; UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE