Bal v. U.S. Department of the Treasury
- Ona Wang
- 1:21-cv-04702
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In Bal v. Treasury, Judge Wang denied Bal’s request for pro bono counsel and denied his request to appeal without paying fees.
John Bal’s request for appointed volunteer counsel was denied, and he was denied the ability to appeal this order without paying the required fees. The remaining Freedom of Information Act issue was still being briefed.
What happened
In Bal v. U.S. Department of the Treasury, John Bal asked the court to appoint a volunteer lawyer after nearly three years of litigation. The only remaining issue concerned whether the Office of Foreign Assets Control followed the Freedom of Information Act when it redacted confidential commercial and personally identifying information from a November 5, 2021 production.
The court considered the case’s apparent merits, Bal’s efforts to find a lawyer, and his ability to present the case without one. It noted that Bal had contacted three legal organizations, but had not shown why he could not seek other volunteer counsel. The court also found that his detailed filings showed he could gather facts and present his case himself, and that the case was unlikely to require extended discovery.
Judge Ona T. Wang denied Bal’s motion for appointment of pro bono counsel and directed the Clerk to close the motion. She also certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied Bal’s request to appeal without paying fees. Briefing on the remaining Freedom of Information Act issue was continuing.
The detailed version
- Bal v. U.S. Department of the Treasury · No. 1:21-cv-04702
- Ona Wang
- June 10, 2024
Motion and context
John Bal moved for appointment of pro bono counsel, meaning a lawyer who would represent him without charging him. He said that the Legal Aid Society, New York Civil Liberties Union, and Brennan Center for Justice had declined to represent him. He did not explain why he was seeking appointed counsel after nearly three years of litigation and referred only to an attached document, apparently his motion seeking Judge Wang’s recusal. That recusal motion had been denied.
Court’s analysis
The court applied factors used for requests by an indigent litigant for appointed counsel: the apparent merits of the case, the litigant’s efforts to obtain a lawyer, and the litigant’s ability to gather facts and present the case without counsel. The court emphasized that the merits receive the most attention and that courts should not appoint volunteer lawyers indiscriminately.
The court stated that the only remaining issue was whether the Office of Foreign Assets Control complied with the Freedom of Information Act when redacting confidential commercial information and personally identifiable information from its November 5, 2021 production. The parties were briefing the defendants’ motion for summary judgment, a motion asking the court to decide the case without a trial based on the undisputed record. The court also noted that all other issues and claims had been dismissed in October 2023 and were being addressed in Bal’s motion for reconsideration. It concluded that the case was unlikely to involve extended discovery, or any discovery at all.
Regarding Bal’s efforts to obtain counsel, the court found that he had contacted three highly sought-after legal organizations but had not shown a special reason why he could not obtain other volunteer counsel or why court assistance was necessary. Regarding his ability to proceed without counsel, the court found that his thorough motion practice showed he could gather facts and present the case himself.
Ruling
Judge Ona T. Wang denied Bal’s motion for appointment of pro bono counsel and directed the Clerk to close ECF 103. The court also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that any appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied fee-free appeal status for that appeal. The order did not decide the remaining Freedom of Information Act redaction issue.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.