I will try my best to keep this succint to save you from the pain of having to read the entire long story.
- I unfortunately was involved in a car accident, and was given my very first traffic ticket, for “Following too closely.” Location: Atlanta Georgia.
- It was a ticket which I must appear in court.
- I got a traffic ticket attorney from the app OffTheRecord. It seemed to be a service that connects you to ‘reliable’ attorneys around the area for your particular case. The service also has a full refund policy for completely failed cases.
- The attorney contacted me the night before the court. I contacted my car insurance company and prepared all papers.
- We met and discussed for the first time in court. He told me he prepared a fine plea deal, and if I pay the full fine (240 dollars), they would drop all charges with no points on my license. I signed the papers and did as he said.
- We left the courtroom happy and he left a written record in the OffTheRecord app saying, “Was amended to violation of basic rules.” This was 1 week ago.
- 1 week later, I notice that 3 points appeared on my license, and the court docket still just says “guilty”. This was not what he communicated to me.
- I contact my attorney asap, and he claims that his job ended successfully in the courtroom, and they seem to have made an administrative fault in filing the wrong rulings.
- Despite my negotiations and demands for responsibility, he claims that this is now an entirely different case and he is now asking for an additional 2000 dollars to rectify this “fault of the court”.
- I honestly do not believe this was the court’s mistake. I am getting the feeling he set this up on purpose knowing that I was not knowledgable about the law, and he baited me for a bigger lawsuit than my original traffic ticket case.
To make matters worse, even the OffTheRecord support is not answering my messages possibly because I asked for a refund. I am contacting my bank to cancel my transactions.
Comments
Try and contact the prosecutor and find out the truth of the matter. Getting their attention might not be possible, but its worth a try. To be clear, I don’t think they have to or are likely to do anything for you if your attorney is full of shit. You can ask. However, simply knowing that your attorney is in fact full of shit would be a huge help in planning next steps.
Unlike many states, Georgia does not have a fund to reimburse client’s screwed by their lawyer. Georgia relies on bar complaints and when it might rise to a crime, reporting to the district attorney. You can talk to the prosecutor about this if they indicate your attorney is full of shit (but keep in mind that experienced prosecutors don’t usually get stuck with traffic so they might not be the right person.) Most likely the way forward would be a bar complaint.