1 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 2 DISTRICT OF NEVADA

3 ARRON LAIR, Case No. 2:25-cv-00039-APG-MDC

4 Plaintiff ORDER

5 v.

6 DR. KSENIA STAFEEVA, et al.,

7 Defendants

8 9 On July 17, 2025, the Court entered a screening order allowing Plaintiff’s Eighth 10 Amendment medical-indifference claim about keratoconus eye condition to proceed 11 against Kenneth Williams, John Doe 3 HDSP Chief Nurse, and John Doe 5 HDSP 12 Optometrist; and granting Plaintiff until August 19, 2025, to file an amended complaint to 13 replead his Fourteenth Amendment equal-protection claims and substitute the true names 14 of John Doe 3 and John Doe 5. (ECF No. 4). Plaintiff did not file an amended complaint 15 by the deadline, but instead filed a notice asking to correct John Doe 3’s and John Doe 16 5’s names. (ECF No. 9). Plaintiff also moved the Court to appoint him a free attorney. 17 (ECF No. 8). For the reasons discussed below, the Court denies without prejudice 18 Plaintiff’s motion to be appointed counsel, construes his notice to correct names as a 19 motion to substitute the Doe defendants’ true names and grants him that relief, confirms 20 that claims will proceed as stated in the screening order, stays this action for 90 days, 21 and refers this matter to the Court’s Inmate Early Mediation (“IEM”) program. 22 I. DISCUSSION 23 A. Notice to Correct Names 24 Plaintiff’s notice to correct asks the Court to replace John Doe 3 HDSP Chief Nurse 25 with the first name George and John Doe 5 HDSP Optometrist with Dr. Hernandez. (ECF 26 No. 9). In screening Plaintiff’s original complaint, the Court allowed the Eighth 27 Amendment medical-indifference claim about keratoconus eye condition to proceed 28 against John Doe 3 and John Doe 5 when he “discovers their true names and substitutes 1 them as defendants in this action.” (ECF No. 4 at 9). Considering the foregoing, Plaintiff’s 2 notice to correct names is construed as a motion to substitute true names for these Doe 3 defendants and, so construed, is granted. 4 B. Motion for Appointed Counsel 5 Plaintiff moves the Court to find and appoint him a free attorney, arguing with an 6 unmodified form motion that the matters at issue here are complex, and he has limited 7 experience litigating claims. (ECF No. 8). A litigant does not have a constitutional right to 8 appointed counsel in

civil-rights actions. Storseth v. Spellman,

1349, 1353 (9th Cir. 1981). The statute that governs this type of litigation, 28 U.S.C. 10 § 1915(e)(1), provides that “[t]he court may request an attorney to represent any person 11 unable to afford counsel.” But the court will appoint counsel for indigent civil litigants only 12 in “exceptional circumstances.” Palmer v. Valdez,

(9th Cir. 2009). 13 “When determining whether ‘exceptional circumstances’ exist, a court must consider ‘the 14 likelihood of success on the merits as well as the ability of the petitioner to articulate his 15 claims pro se in light of the complexity of the legal issues involved.”

(cleaned up). 16 “Neither of these considerations is dispositive and instead must be viewed together.”

17 Plaintiff has not shown exceptional circumstances warranting the appointment of 18 counsel. Lack of legal knowledge is commonly experienced by inmates prosecuting 19 claims and does not constitute an exceptional circumstance. The matters currently at 20 issue in this action are not particularly complex, and Plaintiff has demonstrated an ability 21 to articulate a colorable claim for relief under one theory of liability on a pro se basis. 22 Moreover, the Court cannot conclude on this record that Plaintiff is likely to prevail on the 23 merits of his claim. So the motion for appointed counsel is denied without prejudice. 24 C. Certain claims proceed and this action is stayed and referred to IEM. 25 Plaintiff has applied to proceed in forma pauperis (“IFP”) in this action. (ECF No. 1). 26 On July 17, 2025, the Court issued a screening order permitting one claim to proceed, 27 dismissing the other claims with leave to amend by August 19, 2025, and deferring ruling 28 on Plaintiff’s IFP application. (ECF No. 4). The Court specifically stated that if Plaintiff did 1 not file an amended complaint by the deadline, this action would proceed on only the 2 Eighth Amendment medical-indifference claim about keratoconus eye condition. Because 3 that deadline expired without Plaintiff filing an amended complaint, this action will proceed 4 on only the Eighth Amendment medical-indifference claim about keratoconus eye 5 condition against Kenneth Williams, George, and Dr. Hernandez. 6 II. CONCLUSION 7 It is therefore ordered that Plaintiff’s notice to correct names (ECF No. 9) is 8 construed as a motion to substitute George for John Doe 3 HDSP Chief Nurse and Dr. 9 Hernandez for John Doe 5 HDSP Optometrist and, so construed, is granted. 10 It is further ordered that the motion for appointed counsel (ECF No. 8) is denied 11 without prejudice. 12 It is further ordered that, consistent with the Court’s screening order (ECF No. 4), 13 this action will proceed on only the Eighth Amendment medical-indifference claim about 14 keratoconus eye condition against Kenneth Williams, George, and Dr. Hernandez. 15 It is further ordered that, given the nature of the claim that the Court has permitted 16 to proceed, this action is stayed for 90 days to allow Plaintiff and Defendants an 17 opportunity to settle their dispute before the Court will determine whether to grant 18 Plaintiff’s IFP application, the $350 filing fee is paid, an answer is filed, or the discovery 19 process begins. During this 90-day stay period and until the Court lifts the stay, no other 20 pleadings or papers may be filed in this case, and the parties will not engage in any 21 discovery, nor are the parties required to respond to any paper filed in violation of the stay 22 unless specifically ordered by the Court to do so. The Court will refer this case to the IEM 23 program, and the Court will enter a subsequent order about that matter. Regardless, on 24 or before 90 days from the date this order is entered, the Office of the Attorney General 25 will file the report form attached to this order regarding the results of the 90-day stay, even 26 if a stipulation for dismissal is entered before the end of the 90-day stay. If the parties 27 proceed with this action, the Court will then issue an order setting a date for Defendants 28 1 to file an answer or other response. Following the filing of an answer, the Court will issue 2 a scheduling order setting discovery and dispositive motion deadlines. 3 It is further ordered that “settlement” may or may not include payment of money 4 damages. It also may or may not include an agreement to resolve Plaintiff’s issues 5 differently. A compromise agreement is one in which neither party is completely satisfied 6 with the result, but both have given something up and both have obtained something in 7 return. 8 It is further ordered that if the case does not settle, then the Court will determine 9 whether to grant Plaintiff’s IFP application. Plaintiff will be required to pay the full $350 10 statutory filing fee for a civil action regardless of whether the Court grants his IFP 11 application. This fee cannot be waived, and the fee cannot be refunded once the Court 12 enters an order granting the application. If Plaintiff is allowed to proceed IFP, the fee will 13 be paid in installments from his prison trust account. See

(b). If Plaintiff 14 is not allowed to proceed IFP, the full $350 statutory filing fee for a civil action plus the 15 $55 administrative filing fee, for a total of $405, will be due immediately. 16 It is further ordered that if any party seeks to have this case excluded from the 17 inmate mediation program, that party will file a “motion to exclude case from mediation” 18 no later than 21 days before the date set for mediation. The responding party will have 7 19 days to file a response. No reply will be filed. Thereafter, the Court will issue an order, set 20 the matter for hearing, or both. 21 It is further ordered that if Plaintiff needs an interpreter to participate in the 22 mediation program, he will file a notice identifying the interpretation language and the 23 need for the interpreter within 30 days from the date of this order. 24 It is further ordered that the Attorney General’s Office will advise the Court within 25 21 days of the date of the entry of this order whether it will enter a limited notice of 26 appearance on behalf of Defendants for the purpose of settlement. No defenses or 27 objections, including lack of service, will be waived as a result of the filing of the limited 28 notice of appearance. 1 And the Clerk of Court is directed to accomplish the following tasks: 2 1. Substitute George for John Doe 3 HDSP Chief Nurse; 3 2. Substitute Dr. Hernandez for John Doe 5 HDSP Optometrist; and 4 3. Add the Nevada Department of Corrections to the docket as an Interested 5 Party and electronically provide a copy of this order and copies of all items 6 previously filed in this case by regenerating the Notices of Electronic Filing on the 7 Office of the Attorney General of the State of Nevada by adding the Attorney 8 General of the State of Nevada to the interested party on the docket (this does not 9 indicate acceptance of service). 10 11 DATED: September 5, 2025 12 Yue

13 UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 14 [/ 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28

-5-

1 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 2 DISTRICT OF NEVADA

3 ARRON LAIR, Case No. 2:25-cv-00039-APG-MDC

4 Plaintiff REPORT OF ATTORNEY GENERAL RE: RESULTS OF 90-DAY STAY 5 v.

6 DR. KSENIA STAFEEVA, et al.,

7 Defendants

8 9 NOTE: ONLY THE OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL SHALL FILE THIS FORM. THE INMATE PLAINTIFF SHALL NOT FILE THIS FORM. 10 11 On ________________, the Court issued its screening order stating that it had 12 conducted its screening pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915A, and that certain specified claims 13 in this case would proceed. The Court ordered the Office of the Attorney General of the 14 State of Nevada to file a report ninety (90) days after the date of the entry of the Court’s 15 screening order to indicate the status of the case at the end of the 90-day stay. By filing 16 this form, the Office of the Attorney General hereby complies. 17 REPORT FORM [Identify which of the following two situations (identified in bold type) describes the case, 18 and follow the instructions corresponding to the proper statement.]

19 Situation One: Mediated Case: The case was assigned to mediation by a court- appointed mediator during the 90-day stay. [If this statement is accurate, check ONE 20 of the six statements below and fill in any additional information as required, then proceed to the signature block.] 21 A mediation session with a court-appointed mediator was held on 22 , and as of this date, the parties have reached a settlement (even if paperwork to memorialize the settlement remains to be 23 completed). (If this box is checked, the parties are on notice that they must SEPARATELY file either a contemporaneous stipulation of dismissal or a 24 motion requesting that the Court continue the stay in the case until a specified date upon which they will file a stipulation of dismissal.) 25 A mediation session with a court-appointed mediator was held on 26 , and as of this date, the parties have not reached a settlement. The Office of the Attorney General therefore informs the Court 27 of its intent to proceed with this action.

28 No mediation session with a court-appointed mediator was held during the 90-day stay, but the parties have nevertheless settled the case. (If this box 1 is checked, the parties are on notice that they must SEPARATELY file a contemporaneous stipulation of dismissal or a motion requesting that the 2 Court continue the stay in this case until a specified date upon which they will file a stipulation of dismissal.) 3 ____ No mediation session with a court-appointed mediator was held during the 4 90-day stay, but one is currently scheduled for ________________.

5 No mediation session with a court-appointed mediator was held during the 90-day stay, and as of this date, no date certain has been scheduled for 6 such a session.

7 ____ None of the above five statements describes the status of this case. Contemporaneously with the filing of this report, the Office of the Attorney 8 General of the State of Nevada is filing a separate document detailing the status of this case. 9 Situation Two: Informal Settlement Discussions Case: The case was NOT assigned 10 to mediation with a court-appointed mediator during the 90-day stay; rather, the parties were encouraged to engage in informal settlement negotiations. [If this 11 statement is accurate, check ONE of the four statements below and fill in any additional information as required, then proceed to the signature block.] 12 ____ The parties engaged in settlement discussions and as of this date, the 13 parties have reached a settlement (even if the paperwork to memorialize the settlement remains to be completed). (If this box is checked, the parties 14 are on notice that they must SEPARATELY file either a contemporaneous stipulation of dismissal or a motion requesting that the Court continue the 15 stay in this case until a specified date upon which they will file a stipulation of dismissal.) 16 The parties engaged in settlement discussions and as of this date, the 17 parties have not reached a settlement. The Office of the Attorney General therefore informs the Court of its intent to proceed with this action. 18 ____ The parties have not engaged in settlement discussions and as of this date, 19 the parties have not reached a settlement. The Office of the Attorney General therefore informs the Court of its intent to proceed with this action. 20

21 ____ None of the above three statements fully describes the status of this case. Contemporaneously with the filing of this report, the Office of the Attorney 22 General of the State of Nevada is filing a separate document detailing the status of this case. 23 Submitted this _______ day of __________________, ______ by: 24 25 Attorney Name: _______________________ _________________________ Print Signature 26

27 Address: ______________________ Phone:

28 Email: