1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 JULIA CHAVES, Case No. 1:25-cv-00524-BAM 12 Plaintiff, ORDER GRANTING MOTION FOR LEAVE TO WITHDRAW AS 13 v. ATTORNEYS OF RECORD FOR PLAINTIFF JULIA CHAVES 14 HYUNDAI MOTOR AMERICA, a California Corporation, and DOES 1 ORDER SETTING STATUS 15 through 10, inclusive, CONFERENCE TO DETERMINE HOW PLAINTIFF JULIA CHAVES INTENDS 16 Defendants. TO PROCEED IN THIS ACTION; SEPTEMBER 23, 2025 AT 9:00 AM WITH 17 EACH PARTY CONNECTING REMOTELY VIA ZOOM VIDEO 18 CONFERENCE 19 JULIA CHAVES IS REQUIRED TO APPEAR 20 (Doc. 10) 21

22 23 Pending before the Court is the motion of Attorneys Michelle Yang and Sanam Vaziri of 24 Prestige Legal Solutions, P.C. (“PLS”), and its attorneys, requesting leave to withdraw as counsel 25 of record for Plaintiff Julia Chaves. (Doc. 10.) The matter was heard by videoconference on 26 August 22, 2025, before United States Magistrate Judge Barbara A. McAuliffe. Counsel Sanam 27 Vaziri appeared by Zoom video on behalf of Plaintiff Julia Chaves. The Court delayed the start 28 of the conference by eight minutes to allow Plaintiff additional time to appear. Plaintiff Julia 1 Chaves did not appear. Counsel Rohit Sengupta appeared by Zoom video on behalf of Defendant 2 Hyundai Motor America. 3 Having considered the moving papers, arguments, and record in this action, the motion to 4 withdraw as counsel of record will be GRANTED. 5 BACKGROUND 6 On May 5, 2025, Plaintiff removed this action from Kings County Superior Court.1 (Doc. 7 1.) On July 29, 2025, Sanam Vaziri and Michelle Yang, counsel for Plaintiff, filed notices of 8 appearance in this action. (Docs. 6, 7.) On August 4, 2025, Plaintiff’s counsel moved to 9 withdraw as counsel. (Doc. 10.) On August 5, 2025, the Court convened a Scheduling 10 Conference. (Doc. 12.) Plaintiff’s counsel was directed to file an updated declaration in support 11 of the motion to withdraw that included proof of service of the motion on Plaintiff and Plaintiff’s 12 email address. (Id.) 13 Plaintiff’s counsel served a copy of the motion to withdraw on Plaintiff via email and 14 physical mail at her last known address. (Id. at ⁋⁋ 8-9.) Plaintiff’s counsel subsequently filed a 15 declaration, proof of service, and Plaintiff’s email address. (Doc. 13.) At the hearing on August 16 22, 2025, Plaintiff’s counsel informed the Court that there has been no contact from Plaintiff after 17 the filing of the motion to withdraw, despite Counsel’s efforts. 18 DISCUSSION 19 A. Motion for Leave to Withdraw 20 Plaintiff’s counsel moves for leave to withdraw as attorneys of record. (Doc. 10.) 21 According to the moving papers, Plaintiff’s counsel contends that “representing [Plaintiff] has 22 become, and will continue to become, unreasonably difficult, and eventually impossible, as 23 Plaintiff refuses to engage in any communications with PLS.” (Doc. 10 at 3; Doc. 13 ⁋⁋ 5-6.) 24 Plaintiff’s counsel further contends that “[g]ranting this motion will not unduly affect the 25 prosecution of this case or its progress to trial,” as “[n]ew counsel can be brought into the action 26 and easily brought up to speed on the pending action since it is in its early stages of litigation and 27 1 Julia Chaves v. Hyundai Motor America, and Does 1 Through 10, Inclusive, Case No. 28 25CU0142, was filed in Kings County Superior Court on April 1, 2025. (Doc. 1.) 1 no trial date has yet been set.” (Doc. 10 at 3.) 2 B. Legal Standard 3 In the Eastern District of California, attorneys representing parties to a civil case are 4 subject to this Court’s Local Rule 182(d) which provides:

5 Unless otherwise provided herein, an attorney who has appeared may not withdraw leaving the client in propria persona without leave of court upon noticed motion 6 and notice to the client and all other parties who have appeared. The attorney shall provide an affidavit stating the current or last known address or addresses of the 7 client and the efforts made to notify the client of the motion to withdraw. Withdrawal as attorney is governed by the Rules of Professional Conduct of the 8 State Bar of California, and the attorney shall conform to the requirements of those Rules. The authority and duty of the attorney of record shall continue until relieved 9 by order of the Court issued hereunder. Leave to withdraw may be granted subject to such appropriate conditions as the Court deems fit. 10 L.R. 182(d); see also Thomas v. Experian Info. Sols., Inc.,

, at *1 (E.D. Cal. 11 Dec. 23, 2014) (“Whether to grant leave to withdraw is subject to the sound discretion of the 12 Court and ‘may be granted subject to such appropriate conditions as the Court deems fit.’”); 13 Canandaigua Wine Co., Inc. v. Moldauer,

, *1 (E.D. Cal. Jan. 14, 2009) 14 (determining decision to grant or deny counsel’s motion to withdraw is committed to the 15 discretion of the trial court). 16 The Rules of Professional Conduct of the State Bar of California provide that an attorney 17 may withdraw from representation if the client “renders it unreasonably difficult for the member 18 to carry out the employment effectively.” California Rule of Professional Conduct 3-700(C)(1). 19 As noted above, the decision to grant counsel’s motion to withdraw is within the 20 discretion of the trial court. Thomas,

, at *1; Canandaigua,

at 21 *1. “In ruling on a motion to withdraw, some courts have looked to the following factors: 1) the 22 reasons why withdrawal is sought; 2) the prejudice withdrawal may cause to other litigants; 3) the 23 harm withdrawal might cause to the administration of justice; and 4) the degree to which 24 withdrawal will delay the resolution of the case.” Canandaigua,

at *1. “In 25 determining whether good cause for withdrawal exists, courts have considered whether the client 26 is cooperative or seeks to dictate litigation strategy.” Id. at *2 (citation omitted). 27 /// 28 1 C. Analysis 2 In the instant action, withdrawal is sought because Plaintiff has ceased communicating 3 with counsel. (Docs. 10 at 3, 13 ⁋ 3.) According to Sanam Vaziri’s Declaration, PLS attempted 4 to contact Plaintiff via telephone sixteen separate times from January 2, 2025 to July 26, 2025. 5 (Doc. 13 ⁋ 5.) All of these attempts were unsuccessful. (Id.) PLS also attempted to reach 6 Plaintiff via email. (Id. ⁋ 6.) Plaintiff did not respond, though Counsel was able to see that 7 Plaintiff viewed the document. (Id.) 8 Counsel declares that the failure of Plaintiff to communicate with them has made it 9 impossible to effectively represent Plaintiff. (Id. ¶ 3.) Counsel’s reason for withdrawal weighs in 10 favor of granting the motion. Defendant does not oppose the requested withdrawal. Dates have 11 not yet been set for discovery or trial, suggesting that withdrawal will not result in prejudice to 12 other litigant or otherwise delay resolution of the case. These factors therefore also weigh in 13 favor of granting leave to withdraw. 14 CONCLUSION AND ORDER 15 For the reasons stated, the Court HEREBY ORDERS as follows: 16 1. The motion for leave to withdraw as attorneys of record for Plaintiff Julia Chaves filed 17 by Sanam Vaziri and Michelle Yang of Prestige Legal Solutions, P.C. (Doc. 10) is 18 GRANTED. 19 2. Julia Chaves is substituted in propria persona in place and stead of Michelle Yang and 20 Sanam Vaziri of Prestige Legal Solutions, P.C. 21 3. The Clerk of the Court is directed to update the docket with the contact information of 22 Julia Chaves at her last known address:

23 1320 S. Marion St. Tulare, CA 93274 24 [email protected] 25 Plaintiff is advised that pursuant to Local Rules 182(f) and 183(b) she is under a 26 continuing duty to notify the Clerk and all other parties of any change of address or 27 telephone number. 28 4. The Court further sets a Status Conference to determine how Plaintiff intends to 1 proceed in this action for September 23, 2025 at 9:00 AM in Courtroom 8 (BAM) 2 before Magistrate Judge Barbara A. McAuliffe with each party connecting 3 remotely via Zoom video conference. Plaintiff is required to appear. The parties will 4 be provided with the Zoom ID and password by the Courtroom Deputy prior to the 5 conference. The Zoom ID number and password are confidential and are not to be 6 shared. Appropriate court attire required. 7 5. The Clerk of the Court is directed to serve a copy of this Order on Plaintiff by mail at 8 Plaintiff’s last known address and also serve this Order by email. 9 IT IS SO ORDERED. 10

11 Dated: August 25, 2025 /s/ Barbara A. McAuliffe _ UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 12

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