Loterzstain
(PC) Newsome v. Loterzstain
Opinion
Trial Court Opinion
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 SHELDON RAY NEWSOME, Case No. 2:19-cv-00307-DAD-JDP (PC) Plaintiff, ORDER v. DENYING PLAINTIFF’S MOTION TO
APPOINT COUNSEL
M. LOTERZSTAIN, et al., ECF No. 158 Defendants.
16 17 Plaintiff is a state inmate proceeding without counsel in this civil rights action brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Pending is plaintiff’s motion to appoint counsel. ECF No. 158. Plaintiff does not have a constitutional right to appointed counsel, see Rand v. Rowland, 113 F.3d 1520, 1525 (9th Cir. 1997), and the court lacks authority to require an attorney to represent plaintiff. See Mallard v. U.S. Dist. Ct. for the S. Dist. of Iowa, 490 U.S. 296, 298 (1989). The court can request the voluntary assistance of counsel. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(1) (“The court may request an attorney to represent any person unable to afford counsel”); Rand, 113 F.3d at 1525. But without a means to compensate counsel, the court will seek volunteer counsel…