Remo Harrison Daniels v. Natalie Parsons

Summary

The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin denied without prejudice Remo Harrison Daniels’s motion to appoint counsel in his 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action alleging deliberate indifference to threats of self-harm. The court found that Daniels had made a reasonable effort to obtain counsel but was capable of litigating the relatively straightforward claim at that stage, while allowing him to renew the motion if the case later became too difficult to handle without counsel.

Holdings

1. Daniels satisfied the first prong because he made a reasonable, good-faith effort to obtain counsel and submitted letters from lawyers who declined representation.
2. Appointment of counsel was not warranted at this stage because Daniels's claim was not complex and his clear and concise filings showed that he could represent himself competently.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the court should recruit counsel for an indigent incarcerated plaintiff under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(1).
2. Whether Daniels satisfied the Seventh Circuit's two-part test for appointment of counsel by showing both a reasonable effort to obtain counsel and an inability to litigate the case competently without counsel.

Disposition

other