McCaa v. Hamilton

Dist. Ct. erred in denying plaintiff-prisoners’ requests for recruitment of counsel and then granting defendants-prison officials’ motion for summary judgment in section 1983 action alleging that defendants were deliberately indifferent to plaintiff’s risk of suicide that caused plaintiff to incur serious injuries. Record showed that plaintiff sought recruitment of counsel on four separate occasions, to which Dist. Ct., in denying said requests, generally said that plaintiff had appeared to cogently present his case and to communicate his positions. However, beginning with plaintiff’s third request for recruitment of counsel, Dist. Ct. improperly failed to address plaintiff's claims that: (1) recent transfer to different facility frustrated his attempts to locate relevant witnesses; and (2) his mental illness, among other things, prevented him from identifying, collecting and presenting right type of evidence during discovery phase to advance his case. Moreover, plaintiff asserted that he was having difficulty recruiting assistance from other prisoners who had helped plaintiff in past. Also, said failure to address plaintiff’s arguments was prejudicial where, although plaintiff presented some evidence to counter defendants’ summary judgment motion, plaintiff failed to properly cite his evidence to counter defendants’ factual claims.