Devin Lampkin v. Williams, et al.

1 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 2 DISTRICT OF NEVADA DEVIN LAMPKIN, Case No.: 2:25-cv-01083-GMN-DJA Plaintiff, 5 ORDER v. WILLIAMS, et al., Defendants.

9 On July 1, 2025, the Court directed Plaintiff to file a fully complete application to proceed in forma pauperis or pay the $405 filing fee by September 1, 2025. (ECF No. 3).

11 Plaintiff subsequently filed a motion for appointment of counsel, but he has not filed an application to proceed in forma pauperis or paid the $405 filing fee. (ECF No. 4). Plaintiff’s motion for appointment of counsel is a generic form request for appointment of counsel in a criminal case, and it does not include any specific information about Plaintiff’s circumstances. (Id.) 16 The Court will not consider Plaintiff’s motion for appointment of counsel until after he has filed an application to proceed in forma pauperis or paid the $405 filing fee.

18 However, the Court notes that unlike a defendant in a criminal case, litigant in a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 civil rights case does not have a constitutional right to appointed counsel. Storseth v. Spellman, 654 F.2d 1349, 1353 (9th Cir. 1981). Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(1), “[t]he court may request an attorney to represent any person unable to afford counsel.”

22 However, the court will appoint counsel for indigent civil litigants only in “exceptional circumstances.” Palmer v. Valdez, 560 F.3d 965, 970 (9th Cir. 2009) (§ 1983 action).

24 It is not clear whether Plaintiff thought that he would be appointed counsel, and his counsel would handle the application to proceed in forma pauperis for him. In light of this possible misunderstanding, the Court will extend the deadline for Plaintiff to file an application to proceed in forma pauperis or pay the $405 filing fee. Plaintiff must file a 1 complete application to proceed in forma pauperis, or pay the $405 filing in full, on or before October 31, 2025.

3 I. DISCUSSION 4 Under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(2) and Nevada Local Rule LSR 1-2, an inmate seeking to commence a civil action may apply to proceed in forma pauperis, which allows the inmate to file the action without prepaying the full $405 filing fee. To apply for in forma pauperis status, the inmate must submit all three of the following documents to the Court: (1) a completed Application to Proceed in Forma Pauperis for Inmate, on this Court’s approved form (i.e. pages 1 through 3 with the inmate’s two signatures on page 3), (2) a Financial Certificate properly signed by both the inmate and a prison or jail official (i.e. page 4 of this Court’s approved form), and (3) a copy of the inmate’s prison or jail trust 1 2 2 fund account statement for the previous six-month period.

13 If Plaintiff is having difficulty obtaining the required financial documents from prison officials, then Plaintiff must file the first three pages of the application to proceed in forma pauperis on this Court’s approved form together with a declaration detailing when he requested the documents, who he spoke to about the status of the documents, who he followed up with after he did not receive the documents, and their responses. Plaintiff’s declaration will include dates of his requests, dates of his follow-up requests, names of the officials that he spoke to about the matter, and their responses. If Plaintiff’s declaration demonstrates that he has done all that was possible to acquire the financial documents, 2 1 1 the Court will consider his application to proceed in forma pauperis to be complete.1 22 II. CONCLUSION 23 It is therefore ordered that Plaintiff has until October 31, 2025, to either pay the full $405 filing fee for a civil action or file a new fully complete application to proceed in 2 6 6 1 Plaintiff must still submit the first three pages of the application to proceed in forma pauperis on this Court’s approved form with his declaration. If Plaintiff does not submit the first three pages of the application to proceed in forma pauperis with the declaration, the Court will recommend dismissal of this case without prejudice.

1 forma pauperis with all three required documents: (1) a completed application to proceed in forma pauperis with the inmates two signatures on page 3, (2) a financial certificate that is properly signed both by the inmate and a prison or jail official, and (3) a copy of the inmate’s prison or jail trust fund account statement for the previous six month period.

5 It is further ordered that if Plaintiff is not able to obtain his financial certificate and inmate trust fund account statement from prison or jail officials, Plaintiff has until October 31, 2025, to file the first three pages of the application to proceed in forma pauperis on the Court’s approved form together with a declaration detailing the efforts that he took to acquire the financial documents from prison or jail officials.

10 Plaintiff is cautioned that this action will be subject to dismissal without prejudice if he fails to timely comply with this order. Dismissal without prejudice allows Plaintiff to refile the case with the Court, under a new case number, when Plaintiff can either pay the filing fee or properly apply for in forma pauperis status.

14 The Clerk of the Court is directed to resend Plaintiff the approved form application to proceed in forma pauperis for an inmate and instructions for the same.

DATED THIS 2nd day of October 2025.

20 UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE