The very next day after I filed my Motion for Default Judgment, Frank submitted a Motion to Withdraw as Counsel — and this also violated procedure. As I noted in a previous filing, Rule 16 requires there to be justifiable cause for an attorney to withdraw from a case. This usually means there’s a serious problem — like the client not paying their bills, or a major breakdown between the attorney and client.
At a later hearing, a judge told me that a client has a right to choose their own counsel and can switch attorneys at any time, which is true — but once an attorney is formally representing a party in a case, they can’t just withdraw without court permission and cause. Frank’s stated reason for withdrawing was that Anna needed “a more experienced civil litigator” — which either suggests he was admitting incompetence or that they were fabricating a reason to delay the case, since this is a straightforward case against a pro se litigant. Not to mention if that was true, she had months to find a new attorney because he states “once I appealed to District Court” which was on September 3 not December 16.
More importantly, the motion to withdraw didn’t confirm that Anna had actually secured new counsel, only that she was “seeking” it. That’s a serious problem because, under North Carolina law, an LLC must have an attorney in District Court and Superior Court — a corporation cannot represent itself. If Anna didn’t have an attorney at the time Frank withdrew, they should have been placed into default immediately.
Despite this, Frank refused to provide me any proof that new counsel had been retained. He acted like it was some big secret, refusing to even give me a name or confirm whether anyone had been hired. This made no sense, and it seemed intentionally manipulative — another gaslighting tactic designed to make me question my own perception and seem unreasonable if I raised concerns. There was no legitimate reason for him to hide it, and it shows yet again the bad faith conduct throughout this case.
I could have filed an objection to his motion to withdraw immediately — and I eventually did — but at that point, I chose to wait. We had a hearing coming up first, and I decided that if anything happened at the hearing, I would file an objection afterward. If nothing happened, I didn’t want to waste my time and energy filing unnecessary paperwork.
N.C. Gen. R. Prac. 16. Withdrawal of Appearance
No attorney who has entered an appearance in any civil action shall withdraw his appearance, or have it stricken from the record, except on order of the court. Once a client has employed an attorney who has entered a formal appearance, the attorney may not withdraw or abandon the case without (1) justifiable cause, (2) reasonable notice to the client, and (3) the permission of the court. (See Smith vs. Bryant, 264 N.C. 208. See also Rule 43 of Rules of the N.C. State Bar, Volume 4A of General Statutes of North Carolina, page 278, entitled “Withdrawal from employment as attorney or counsel.”)