This disciplinary matter is before the Court on special master J. Raymond Bates, Jr.’s report and recommendation in which he recommends that this Court accept the petition for voluntary discipline filed by Respondent Gayle S. Graziano State Bar No. 306650 and impose a six-month suspension with conditions as discipline for her admitted violation of Rules 1.3, 1.4, and 1.16 of the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct, see Bar Rule 4-102 d. Graziano’s petition was filed pursuant to Bar Rule 4-227 c, after the State Bar filed a Formal Complaint. As the Bar has no objection, we agree that the recommended discipline is appropriate.
According to the record, Graziano agreed to represent a client in a dispute with a contractor over work being performed at the client’s home. Eventually, Graziano filed a suit on behalf of the client and the contractor counterclaimed. On March 30, 2013, Graziano closed her law office and advised her clients, including the client involved in this matter, to obtain new counsel. As this client declined to do so, Graziano appeared on the client’s behalf at the trial of the matter in June 2013, but the trial ended in a mistrial after the client made statements to the opposing party intentionally within earshot of several jurors selected to hear the case. Approximately ten days later, Graziano advised the client to seek other counsel since Graziano anticipated being called as a witness concerning the mistrial and its cause, but the client again failed to do so. Graziano and the client then discussed whether to drop the case, but the client was adamant about wishing to proceed to a second trial. On September 23, 2013, Graziano began a month-long leave of absence that she had requested for health reasons. On October 1, 2013, opposing counsel e-mailed to Graziano a Motion for Contempt for Attorney Fees, which had been filed on September 25, 2013 in the client’s case seeking to recover for fees incurred at the aborted trial. No hearing notice was included in the e-mail, but Graziano received prior notice of a pre-trial conference which had been scheduled for November 1, 2013. Graziano told opposing counsel that she was attending to a terminally ill aunt, and had been unable to reach her client, but that she would try to address the issues in the case. On October 29, 2013, Graziano mailed the client a letter advising that she needed to withdraw due to health reasons, but that she would stay on the case until the client could obtain new counsel. Graziano included a copy of the contempt motion, but gave no indication of the upcoming pre-trial conference.
