Pilkington v. Abuela's Cocina LLC et al

Filing 80

ORDERED Plaintiff's attorneys' 79 Motion to Withdraw as Attorney is granted. Jason Saul Barrat, Michael David Zoldan, Jessica Elizabeth Miller and the Zoldan Law Group, PLLC may withdraw as counsel for Plaintiff Everett Pilkington. Pl aintiff shall have thirty days from the date of this Order to file a notice to the Court indicating whether he intends to proceed pro se in this matter or hire new counsel. Failure to file the notice shall lead to dismissal of this matter for failure to follow a Court order and failure to prosecute. Signed by Senior Judge Raner C Collins on 10/3/2019. (BAR)

1

WO

2
3
4
5
6

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

7

FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA

8
9

Everett Pilkington,
Plaintiff,

10
11

ORDER

v.

12

No. CV-18-00281-TUC-RCC

Abuela's Cocina LLC, et al.,

13

Defendants.

14
15

Pending before the Court is Plaintiff’s attorneys’ Motion to Withdraw as Counsel

16

for Plaintiff. (Doc. 79.) Counsel has attempted to contact Plaintiff multiple times over the

17

last few weeks with no response. In addition, counsel has attempted to contact Plaintiff’s

18

family locate Plaintiff to no avail. Counsel believe they cannot adequately represent

19

Plaintiff’s interests because of his lack of communication. Counsel has notified Plaintiff

20

of the intent to withdraw and provided the Motion and upcoming deadlines both to

21

Plaintiff’s email and mailing address.

22
23
24
25
26
27
28

Under the American Bar Association’s Model Rules of Professional Conduct, an
attorney may withdraw from representation if “the client fails substantially to fulfill an
obligation to the lawyer regarding the lawyer’s services and has been given reasonable
warning that the lawyer will withdraw unless the obligation is fulfilled.” Model Rules of
Prof’l Conduct r. 1.16 (Am. Bar Ass’n 2018). Furthermore, under Local Rule of Civil
Procedure 83.3(b)(2), an attorney may withdraw as counsel without the written consent of
the client when the motion is served on the client, accompanied by the attorney’s

1

certification that “(A) the client has been notified in writing of the status of the case . . . ,

2

or (B) the client cannot be located or for whatever other reason cannot be notified of the

3

pendency of the motion and the status of the case.”

4
5
6
7
8

Plaintiff has failed to fulfill his obligation to counsel by becoming unavailable
without explanation. Furthermore, counsel has provided the necessary notice to Plaintiff
under the Local Rules to permit withdrawal.
Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED:

9

1. Plaintiff’s attorneys’ Motion to Withdraw as Counsel for Plaintiff is GRANTED.

10

(Doc. 79.) Jason Barrat, Michael Zoldan, Jessica Miller, and the Zoldan Law

11

Group, PLLC may withdraw as counsel for Plaintiff Everett Pilkington in the

12

above-referenced matter.

13
14

2. Plaintiff has until November 11, 2019 to respond to outstanding discovery
requests (Docs. 78, 79).

15

3. Plaintiff shall have thirty days from the date of this Order to file a notice to the

16

Court indicating whether he intends to proceed pro se in this matter or hire new

17

counsel. Failure to file the notice shall lead to dismissal of this matter for failure

18

to follow a Court order and failure to prosecute. See Ferdik v. Bonzelet, 963

19

F.2d 1258, 1260-61 (9th Cir. 1992).

20
21
22

4. All future notices in this matter be mailed to Plaintiff at:
Everett Pilkington
610 S. 4th Ave. #6
Tucson, AZ 85701

23
24

Dated this 3rd day of October, 2019.

25
26
27
28

-2-