Lewis v. Doe, 1:12-cv-07864

Plaintiff Darryl Lester Lewis, a former federal prisoner, filed a pro se civil rights action under 28 U.S.C. §1331 and Bivens against defendants at USP McCreary, Kentucky for failing to protect him from an April 2009 inmate attack.
The court, by minute order on October 12, 2012, directed Lewis to show good cause in writing why the complaint should not be dismissed as untimely.
Lewis filed a motion for appointment of counsel, which the court denies without prejudice.
The court grants Lewis an extension to November 9, 2012 to show good cause; failure to comply may result in dismissal of the action as time-barred and denial of in forma pauperis status.
The court emphasizes there is no automatic right to counsel in federal civil cases but can consider appointment under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(1) using several factors.
The court concludes Lewis has not shown reasonable efforts to retain counsel, the claims appear untimely, and Lewis has no disability precluding response; counsel appointment is denied for now, with potential revisit later.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether appointment of counsel is warranted	Lewis seeks counsel assistance for pro se handling	No warrant for appointment given lack of effort and complexity	Not warranted at this time
Whether the case is untimely and subject to dismissal	(Lewis) claims timely filing or not addressed here	Claims appear untimely	Timeliness concerns noted; extension granted to show cause; potential dismissal if not shown

Romanelli v. Suliene, 615 F.3d 847 (7th Cir. 2010) (no constitutional right to counsel in federal civil cases)
Johnson v. Doughty, 433 F.3d 1001 (7th Cir. 2006) (court may appoint counsel for indigent litigant under §1915(e)(1))
Pruitt v. Mote, 503 F.3d 647 (7th Cir. 2007) (factors for appointing counsel in civil cases)
Gil v. Reed, 381 F.3d 649 (7th Cir. 2004) (additional factors to consider for counsel appointment)