SAN FRANCISCO — The lawyer who accused Uber Technologies Inc. of stealing the idea behind its ride-hailing app has requested to withdraw from the case, citing “an irreparable and complete breakdown in communication” with his client.

Christopher Dolan of The Dolan Law Firm sued Uber in San Francisco Superior Court in May, claiming that Uber ripped off its fundamental business model from precursor Celluride Wireless Inc. But in a motion filed Wednesday, Dolan said he can no longer work with Celluride founder Kevin Halpern.

“It's unfortunate,” Dolan said in an interview, “because I think there are real viable issues raised by the complaint that are worthy of consideration. And this is something that we do only as a last resort.”