A federal appeals court has affirmed a ruling that refused to appoint a new pro bono attorney to carry on a state prisoner’s medical negligence case after Reed Smith pulled out citing “an irremediably broken attorney–client relationship.”

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit held that the factors in its 1993 decision in Tabron v. Grace—which governs whether appointed counsel is necessary—applied to the case at hand and that the district judge did not run afoul of it when denying plaintiff Darien Houser’s case against correctional facility staff.