Judgement on divorce May 9, 2012. Told attorney that the fees will be paid, but I would need time and may take a couple of years. New matter surfaced by Ex-husband and was told an add'l 10K. I asked that my att'y get rid of it, it's frivolous. In less than 30 days, I get a notice that he is filing a motion to be dismissed. I called him, I e-mailed him, w/no response. I get a letter of specific dates that the Court would hear his motion. The day and date were wrong. I contacted the Clerk's Office who had no record of any motion ever being filed either for the day or dates. I then get a letter from the Court granting the att'y permission to be dismissed. I was not given due process.
It appears that you have a couple of different issues here: one is whether your lawyer behaved unethically by asking the court to let him withdraw from your case; the other is whether the court ensured you were provided a hearing on the motion to withdraw.
An attorney who has formally appeared in a case often needs permission of the court to withdraw and cease representing the client on the case. I don't know what your lawyer presented in the motion to withdraw or be dismissed, but in many courts, where there is a new legal matter involving the client, but the client is not able to pay the lawyer's fees, that would be sufficient for the court to release the lawyer. Generally, the lawyer who is withdrawing must give the client time to find a new lawyer and must protect the client's interests in the meantime. I don't have enough of the facts to draw any firm conclusions about your specific situation, but the fact that the new matter is "frivolous" doesn't mean the lawyer is obligated to provide additional services to you if in fact you cannot pay for them. On the other hand, if you have a written fee agreement that allows you to pay the legal fees over a two year time period and that encompasses this new legal matter within its scope of representation, then you might have an argument for the court to keep the lawyer on the case. Whether the lawyer is legally entitled to withdraw or not, though, it is not unethical for the lawyer to file a motion to the court asking for permission to withdraw.
As for the court date being wrong, I cannot tell from what you posted here whether that was the fault of the court clerk or the lawyer (or both or neither). If either the court clerk or the lawyer sent you the wrong date, you might be able to request a reconsideration and a new hearing on the basis that you did not get to be heard on the issue originally through no fault of your own. In most courts, that is something you need to act on very quickly after learning that the court has ruled. A new hearing would at least provide you the due process that you did not get when you did not have the correct hearing date. Before taking this step, though, you may want to consider whether you want to continue to be represented by someone who does not want to work on your case.
If the lawyer misled you about the hearing date, so that he could prevent the court from hearing your side, then that could be an ethical violation. Among the issues would be whether the lawyer did this intentionally or not, and whether you had been advised to confirm the hearing date and time on your own.
Keep in mind that even if the lawyer violated an ethical rule in how he handled withdrawing from your case, it is unlikely that it would have any effect on what you already owe him.
