Florence v. Allison
- Jacquelyn Corley
- 3:22-cv-02265
- U.S. District Court · Northern District of California
- 2
In Florence v. Allison, Judge Corley denied David Florence’s motions for appointed counsel and transfer to another prison.
David Florence, a California prisoner representing himself in a civil-rights case, remains without appointed counsel and was not granted a transfer to another prison; the court provided accommodations concerning missing pinpoint citations and possible deadline extensions.
What happened
David Florence, a California prisoner representing himself, filed a civil-rights case about his medical care at Pelican Bay State Prison. He asked the court to appoint a lawyer and transfer him to another prison.
The court said civil-rights plaintiffs do not have a constitutional right to a lawyer, and this case did not present the exceptional circumstances needed for the court to request one. The court also said prisoners generally have no constitutional right to incarceration in a particular institution.
Judge Jacquelyn Corley denied both motions. The court said Florence could be excused from providing pinpoint citations when his legal materials lacked them and could receive more time if delays in the prison’s legal-materials paging system caused him to miss a deadline.
The detailed version
- Florence v. Allison · No. 3:22-cv-02265
- Jacquelyn Corley
- Sept. 1, 2022
Background
David Florence, a California prisoner proceeding without an attorney, filed a civil-rights case concerning his medical care at Pelican Bay State Prison, where the opinion says he was incarcerated. He filed motions for appointment of counsel and for transfer to the California Health Care Facility.
Appointment of Counsel
The court explained that there is no constitutional right to counsel in a civil-rights case. Under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(1), a court may request an attorney for a person unable to afford one when exceptional circumstances exist. The court found no exceptional circumstances at that stage because the issues were not especially complex and Florence had presented his claims adequately. The court stated that it could refer the case for an attorney on its own initiative if exceptional circumstances later arose. It denied Florence’s motion for appointment of counsel.
Request for Transfer
The court stated that prisoners have no constitutional right to incarceration in a particular institution. It explained that, after conviction, the state may generally confine or transfer a prisoner to one of its other institutions, to a prison in another state, or to a federal prison without violating the Constitution. Because Florence had no constitutional right to transfer to another prison, the court denied his motion for transfer.
The court also addressed Florence’s concern that the other prison had a law library while Pelican Bay used a paging system for legal materials and that the court decisions he received did not contain pinpoint citations. The court excused him from providing pinpoint citations to the extent his legal materials did not show them. It further stated that if delays in the paging system prevented him from meeting a court deadline, that would constitute good cause for granting an extension of time.
Disposition
Judge Jacquelyn Corley denied the motions for appointment of counsel and for transfer. The order disposed of docket numbers 10 and 11.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.