Jeffery D. Williams v. William Soupene ( 2000 )


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  •                        United States Court of Appeals
    FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT
    ___________
    No. 00-1454
    ___________
    Jeffery D. Williams,                    *
    *
    Appellant,                 *
    *
    v.                                * Appeal from the United States
    * District Court for the
    William Soupene; John Ault; Jerome      * Northern District of Iowa.
    Manternach, Sued as J. Manternarch;     *
    Welch, Mr.; Iowa Department of          *      [UNPUBLISHED]
    Corrections, Central Office Grievance *
    Coordinator,                            *
    *
    Appellees.                 *
    ___________
    Submitted: December 6, 2000
    Filed: December 27, 2000
    ___________
    Before BEAM, FAGG, and LOKEN, Circuit Judges.
    ___________
    PER CURIAM.
    Jeffery Williams, a former Iowa inmate, appeals the district court’s1 order
    dismissing his 
    42 U.S.C. § 1983
     complaint with prejudice for failure to comply with a
    court order. Having carefully reviewed the record, we conclude that the district court
    1
    THE HONORABLE MARK W. BENNETT, Chief Judge, United States
    District Court for the Northern District of Iowa.
    did not abuse its discretion by dismissing under Fed. R. Civ. P. 41(b) when Williams
    failed to file an amended complaint as directed. See Edgington v. Missouri Dep’t of
    Corr., 
    52 F.3d 777
    , 779 (8th Cir. 1995) (standard of review). Williams’s counsel--who
    was appointed in May 1999--advised the court in October 1999 that he had written
    Williams but had been unsuccessful in contacting him. Later, after the court ordered
    Williams to file an amended and substituted complaint by December 1, his appointed
    counsel notified the court that Williams had failed to appear for two scheduled
    appointments, and the court reluctantly granted an extension to January 3, 2000, stating
    no further continuances would be granted. No further communication was received by
    the court from Williams or his counsel before the complaint was dismissed on January
    6. See Hunt v. City of Minneapolis, Minn., 
    203 F.3d 524
    , 527 (8th Cir. 2000) (Rule
    41(b) dismissal with prejudice is extreme sanction that should be used only in cases of
    willful disobedience of court order).
    Although Williams now contends that he had no transportation to his appointed
    counsel’s office 175 miles away, and that his appointed counsel had a conflict of
    interest, he did not raise these issues to the district court when or after his counsel was
    appointed. In any event, “[a] pro se litigant has no statutory or constitutional right to
    have counsel appointed in a civil case.” See Stevens v. Redwing, 
    146 F.3d 538
    , 546
    (8th Cir. 1998).
    Accordingly, we affirm.
    A true copy.
    Attest:
    CLERK, U.S. COURT OF APPEALS, EIGHTH CIRCUIT.
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