Lopez v. Thomas
- Phyllis Hamilton
- 4:21-cv-07136
- U.S. District Court · Northern District of California
- 1
In Lopez v. Thomas, Judge Hamilton denied Andrew Lopez’s motion to appoint counsel without prejudice because he adequately presented noncomplex claims.
Andrew Lopez’s request for appointed counsel; the order did not decide the underlying civil-rights claims.
What happened
Lopez v. Thomas is a civil-rights case brought by Andrew Lopez, a prisoner representing himself. Lopez asked the court to appoint a lawyer for him.
The court explained that people generally have no constitutional right to a lawyer in a civil case. A court may ask a lawyer to represent a person who cannot afford one only in unusual circumstances, considering the likely success of the claims and the person’s ability to explain them without a lawyer.
The court found that Lopez had presented his claims adequately and that the legal issues were not complex. Judge Phyllis J. Hamilton therefore denied the motion to appoint counsel without prejudice.
The detailed version
- Lopez v. Thomas · No. 4:21-cv-07136
- Phyllis Hamilton
- Aug. 1, 2022
Background
Andrew Lopez, a prisoner proceeding without a lawyer, brought this civil-rights case against D. C. Thomas. Lopez filed a motion asking the court to appoint counsel, identified as Docket No. 37.
Legal standard
The court stated that there is no constitutional right to appointed counsel in a civil case. Under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(1), a court may request that a lawyer represent a person proceeding without paying filing fees, but the court cannot force a lawyer to accept the appointment.
The Ninth Circuit permits a court to ask a lawyer to represent an indigent litigant only in “exceptional circumstances.” The court must consider both the likelihood that the litigant will succeed on the merits and the litigant’s ability to explain the claims without a lawyer, considering the complexity of the legal issues.
Ruling
The court found that Lopez had presented his claims adequately and that the issues were not complex. It therefore denied Lopez’s motion to appoint counsel without prejudice.
Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.