Broadus v. Johnson

Background

Objector Kenneth Devon Lewis filed three requests: an application to proceed on appeal without paying filing costs, a motion for a free copy of the transcript of the November 13, 2018 hearing about distributing settlement funds, and a motion for appointment of counsel. Lewis was representing himself.

Analysis

The court did not have enough information to evaluate Lewis’s request to proceed without paying filing costs because he had not used the standard application form and had not provided the necessary information. The court therefore directed the clerk to send him the standard form and ordered him to return a completed application within 20 days after receiving it. The court deferred ruling on the fee-waiver application until the record was supplemented. The court also deferred ruling on the request for a free transcript until Lewis returned a completed fee-waiver application.

The court explained that a self-represented litigant does not have a constitutional or statutory right to appointed counsel in a civil case. Appointment of counsel is instead a discretionary decision for the district court. Because Lewis’s appeal was at an early stage and it was not clear that a lawyer would be necessary or appropriate, the court denied his motion for appointment of counsel without prejudice.

Order

The court ordered the clerk to send Lewis a fee-waiver application and ordered Lewis to return it within 20 days of receipt. It denied Lewis’s motion for appointment of counsel without prejudice. The court deferred, rather than granted or denied, the requests to proceed without paying filing costs and for a free transcript.