Cook

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 6 DAVID L. COOK, Case No. 19-cv-01370-PJH

Plaintiff,

ORDER DENYING MOTION TO

v. APPOINT COUNSEL

MARCOS TORRES, Re: Dkt. No. 149 Defendant.

12 Plaintiff, a former county detainee and current federal prisoner, proceeds with a pro se civil rights complaint under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Defendants’ motion for summary judgment was granted in part and denied in part and a settlement conference is scheduled for this case. Presently pending is plaintiff’s motion to appoint counsel for the settlement conference. There is no constitutional right to counsel in a civil case, Lassiter v. Dep't of Social Services, 452 U.S. 18, 25 (1981), and although district courts may "request" that counsel represent a litigant who is proceeding in forma pauperis, as plaintiff is here, see 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(1), that does not give the courts the power to make "coercive appointments of counsel." Mallard v. United States Dist. Court,…