Attorney Negligence Complaint Process

The car accident in which Attorney Stephanie Housefield was asked to represent occurred in September of last year. The first court date was December, which was later pushed to April, and July, and ended today in September, a year later. It was my understanding that Ms. Housefield was doing her due diligence and the best that she could to represent me, however, this was clearly not the case today. I messaged her in early June and was ignored until last night close to midnight, knowing the court date was September 7th, this morning at * am. I woke up around * to a text sent at *:* the previous night, saying that she could not work with the prosecutor to lower the fine or the points, meaning that the outcome would be the same as if I had never hired her. I understand that not all cases can be won, and was very understanding, however also knew that there was one more chance to show up to court and see if anything could be done. I arrived there for the * a.m. appointment and let Ms. Housefield know, to which she told me was a waste of time and that nothing could be done. She also mentioned that she was waiting for AAA to fix her tire. I remained in the courtroom until I was called to speak, to which I was told I could not speak with the State or prosecutor until I terminated my contract with Ms.Housefield and chose to represent myself. During the next two hours, I texted Ms. Housefield and called her. The clerks and members of the court also called her multiple times and received no reply. I ended up waiting two hours in court and decided to terminate my contract and represent myself. Ms. Housefield had told me that it was a waste of time for me to be there, but, by representing myself, I was able to get the points taken off my license and had the charge changed to another, lesser charge. This was already frustrating, but what frustrated me the most was to hear that Ms. Housefield had not shown up for any of the court dates, and the last court date which she had missed and failed to notify me of (she told me I didn’t have to show up to any of the previous court dates) would have resulted in a bench trial. The prosecutor also let me know that she frequently responded to emails and messages late and ignored him on multiple occasions. It was a very stressful and frustrating experience that could have been completely avoided if Ms. Housefield had simply done her job. Instead of reporting her to the board for legal malpractice (which was suggested to me by multiple other lawyers present that day, which the judge also said that she should be held in contempt) or suing in a small court, I have chosen this route to avoid issues and any inconveniences on her or my part. The contract that I signed stated that Ms. Housefield would do everything in her power for a successful outcome, and that simply was not the case. She ghosted me on multiple occasions, leaving me without any answers from June * to September 6th. She also was not legally professional, which was noted by those in the courtroom. I ask for my $* back for these reasons. Screenshots of our text messages with time stamps have been attached, as well as the last time we communicated and when she did not respond to my emails after April 20th. I also purchased my motor vehicle record time stamped to show that I was able to defend myself in court and not get any points or anything that would show up on my record (without her help, as she stated in the text message was a waste of time and to just pay the fine and get the points). I also have a screenshot where I paid the * fine to the court. The actual citation document is listed as “citation disposition” which shows that the case was changed from a *-*-* (which is following too closely and results in * points added to the license and a $* fine) to *-*-* (which is only a $* fine and no points). This was only possible since I showed up and defended myself without the help or assistance of the attorney I paid for, who kept canceling court appearances and not doing her due diligence. If I had not gone to court, I would have had to pay and get the points. I have also attempted to settle this amicably via text and have not gotten a response for over a week now.

thank you!