Zimmons v. Kalisher
- Yvonne Rogers
- 4:20-cv-00859
- U.S. District Court · Northern District of California
- 2
In Zimmons v. Kalisher, Judge Rogers granted in part an amendment deadline extension and denied appointment of counsel.
Melvin Charles Zimmons, whose deadline to file an amended complaint was extended to October 9, 2020 and whose request for appointed counsel was denied; the defendants were not the subject of the rulings described in this order.
What happened
Melvin Charles Zimmons, a state prisoner representing himself, asked for more time to amend his complaint and asked the court to appoint a lawyer. The court had previously dismissed his complaint but allowed him to amend it.
The court granted in part and denied in part the request for more time. It denied an indefinite stay but granted an extension because of the COVID-19 crisis, setting October 9, 2020, as the deadline for the amended complaint. The court denied the request for appointed counsel because exceptional circumstances were not shown, while leaving open the possibility of appointing counsel later.
Judge Rogers’s order terminated the motion docket entry. If Zimmons did not file an amended complaint or request another extension, the action would be dismissed without prejudice.
The detailed version
- Zimmons v. Kalisher · No. 4:20-cv-00859
- Yvonne Rogers
- Sept. 4, 2020
Background
Melvin Charles Zimmons, a state prisoner proceeding without a lawyer, filed a complaint under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. The court had dismissed the complaint but allowed him to file an amended complaint. Zimmons then requested either an extension of time or a stay of the proceedings until the COVID-19 crisis ended. He also requested appointment of counsel.
Extension request
The court granted in part and denied in part Zimmons’s request. It denied the request for an indefinite stay of the proceedings, but granted an extension because of the COVID-19 crisis. The court ordered Zimmons to file his amended complaint by October 9, 2020. It directed him to notify the court if he needed more time and to provide documents showing COVID-19-related programming changes at the prison, rather than merely citing the crisis. The court stated that failure to file an amended complaint or request another extension would result in dismissal of the action without prejudice.
Appointment of counsel and disposition
The court denied the request for appointment of counsel because exceptional circumstances were not shown. The denial was without prejudice to the court appointing counsel on its own initiative later if the circumstances warranted it. The order terminated Docket No. 9. Judge Rogers did not decide the underlying claims in this order.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.