Opinion
CAUSE NO. 1:06-CV-00312.
December 4, 2006
OPINION AND ORDER
Before the Court is a motion for appointment of counsel (Docket # 11) filed by pro se Plaintiff LaToya Lopez, in this racial discrimination case against her employer, Defendant International Bedding Corporation. In response to her motion, the Court instructed Lopez to submit a Questionnaire for Appointment of Counsel (Docket # 13), which included the requirement that Lopez provide the names of at least three attorneys she contacted and the reasons they refused to take her case.
On her completed Questionnaire, Lopez admitted that she has not contacted any attorneys concerning her case. ( See Questionnaire for Appointment of Counsel ¶ 6.) Her failure to meet this threshold requirement is fatal to her request for appointment of counsel. See Jackson v. County of McLean, 953 F.2d 1070, 1073 (7th Cir. 1992) ("If . . . the indigent has made no reasonable attempts to secure counsel (unless circumstances prevented him from doing so), the court should deny any § 1915(d) motions outright."); see also Gil v. Reed, 381 F.3d 649, 656 (7th Cir. 2004) ("In determining whether to appoint counsel for an indigent plaintiff . . ., a court must `first determine if the indigent has made reasonable efforts to retain counsel and was unsuccessful. . . .'") (quoting Jackson, 953 F.2d at 1073)).
Therefore, Lopez's motion for appointment of counsel (Docket # 11) is DENIED.