Quintara Biosciences, Inc. v. Ruifeng Biztech Inc.

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 8

10 QUINTARA BIOSCIENCES, INC., 11 Plaintiff, No. C 20-04808 WHA

12 v.

13 RUIFENG BIZTECH INC., et al., ORDER RE MOTION TO WITHDRAW AS COUNSEL 14 Defendants.

15 16 17 Defense counsel Buchalter moves to withdraw as counsel of record for defendants. 18 Plaintiff argues any change in counsel at this point in the litigation would be highly prejudicial 19 to its case. This order follows an in-person hearing after all parties had received proper notice 20 of the instant motion. Neither defendant Gangyou Wang nor Alan Li appeared at the hearing 21 despite repeated requests from counsel. 22 Counsel “may not withdraw from an action until relieved by order of Court after written 23 notice has been given reasonably in advance to the client and to all other parties who have 24 appeared in the case.” Civil L.R. 11-5. Permission to withdraw is discretionary. Withdrawal 25 in our district is guided by the California Rules of Professional Conduct, which allows 26 permissive withdrawal on several grounds, including when counsel has a good faith belief 27 there is good cause for withdrawal. See United States v. Carter, 560 F.3d 1107, 1113 (9th Cir. 1 2009); Nehad v. Mukasey, 535 F.3d 962, 970 (9th Cir. 2008); Civil L.R. 11-4(a)(1); Cal. R. 2 Pro. Conduct 1.16(b)(4), (5), (10). 3 Upon review of the papers, including a declaration from defense counsel submitted for in 4 camera review, and testimony from some of named defendants at the hearing, good cause for 5 withdrawal exists, and the motion is GRANTED specifically as to defendants: Ruifeng Biztech 6 Inc.; RF Biotech LLC; Gangyou Wang; and Alan Li. Buchalter’s representation of these 7 parties is terminated as of 12:00 AM, OCTOBER 8, 2021. The motion to withdraw is DENIED, 8 however, as to: Rui Shao and Alex Wong. 9 IT IS SO ORDERED. 10 11 Dated: October 7, 2021. 12

13 ~ WILLIAM ALSUP 14 UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE 15 16

= 17

Z 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28