Pony v. County of Los Angeles

433 F.3d 1138 Paulette PONY, Plaintiff-Appellee, Michael R. Mitchell, Intervenor-Appellant, v. COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES, Defendant-Appellee, and Marc Jon Weigensberg; Carola Felber; Quitzia Guerrero, a/k/a Doe 1, Defendants. No. 03-56855. United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. Argued and Submitted September 13, 2005. Filed January 11, 2006. COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED Michael R. Mitchell, in pro per, Woodland Hills, CA, for the appellant. Clayton C. Averbuck, Monroy, Averbuck & Gysler, Westlake Village, CA, and Timothy T. Coates, Greines, Martin, Stein & Richland, L.L.P., Los Angeles, CA, for the defendant-appellee. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Central District of California, S. James Otero, District Judge, Presiding. D.C. No. CV-02-02222-SJO. Before: FARRIS, FERNANDEZ, and BYBEE, Circuit Judges. BYBEE, Circuit Judge: 1 The issue before us is whether a plaintiff bringing suit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 can assign her right to seek attorney's fees to her attorney. We answer that she may not, and we affirm the judgment of the district court. I. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY 2 On March 19, 2002, Wilma Pony, the legal guardian of Paulette Pony, a…