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13.1 14 William G. Shields and associates / The Virginia State Bar
Our council of record concerning the matter of recovery of damages from builder defects covered on this site was William G. Shields of Shields and Associates. As a result of his representation, the defective home deteriorated to becoming uninhabitable, as the nature of the defect produced toxins and contamination that required an enormous cleanup effort and restoration to remove. Instead of recovery from legal representation, we lost an estimated $200,000 more as a result of failure to attain any recovery from damages. J. Winston Read, Richmond division VP of Ryan Homes, made it clear in our discussions with him, that Ryan Homes would not pay for ANY damages resulting from builder defects, and damages to our health were also our problem. Legal action was clearly required to restore our home, and to recover any losses from health damages.
Mr. Shields had his assistant file a case in Henrico County Court in Virginia. It appeared our case was stalled until the very last day the statute of limitations allowed filing suit, as the assistant claimed our case records were lost, and forced us to resubmit them. The suit omitted the builder (Ryan Homes), even though we had clearly discussed including Ryan Homes in any filed suit. By the time we realized no suit would be filed against the builder, the statute of limitations expired. I don't believe Mr. Shields or his assistant was in a position at the time of filing to clearly define liability, as all information he had was obtained by us his clients, and he did not fully understand the nature of the defects). Little to no effort was made to advance our case from the firm. In my opinion, the only service our attorney was going to provide was to place evidence and documentation we had to seek and acquire ourselves, without proper council or advise, into a presentable legal case before the court. He failed to do even this, in the end.
While we were unsuccessful at finding an attorney to sue for malpractice, I did succeed in getting the VSB to review our case for attorney misconduct. Throughout our case, we were suffering negative health symptoms from the home, that severely impaired our ability to protect or defend ourselves from our support personnel. We were unaware how severely we were being impaired by hidden toxins present in the home at that time. A hearing was called for prosecution after a 26 month wait, but the prosecution hearing mysteriously disappeared after a representative from the VSB apparently accepted falsified evidence to drop charges, and wrote a letter explaining how the VSB accepted a lie as basis for dropping their case. This was contested, however the response from VSB was that, many of the alleged violations were actually handled by his assistant. This included what I believe to be mail fraud, and providing false documentation to the Henrico County court. The fact that false evidence was accepted by the VSB as the final premise for dismissing the case was disregarded in the VSB response, which I believe was simply defensive of their position, and they were unwilling to see any fault in their own investigation.
In spite of threats by our former attorney, I maintain my right to complain publicly about the quality of his services. While every statement made here may not be precisely accurate in a format to be presented in a legal court, or stated precisely to the letter of the law, I believe they are accurate, and mostly documented (documentation is intended to be published at a later time in novel format). I believe should Mr. Shields ever make the mistake of acting on his threats about my complaints, proof of malpractice and incompetence would become a matter of public record in the court, he would lose his case, and the documentation I have would be strengthened and published in every possible format.
(Note: to attorneys wishing to eliminate their clients case and commit acts of misconduct without getting prosecuted by the VSB- have an assistant commit the acts of misconduct on your behalf. As explained in a letter from VSB, his assistant did many of the alleged criminal acts claimed in our case, and even though he was council of record, they would not prosecute him for acts committed that were filed under his assistants name. An attorney or even a paralegal is not required to file such information. You can hire anyone to file false information in the court, and the VSB will overlook misconduct.)
Virginia State Bar Guilty of Misconduct in investigating attorney misconduct?
The legal profession’s
relative autonomy carries with it special responsibilities of self-government.
The profession has a
responsibility to assure that its regulations are conceived in the public
interest and not in furtherance of parochial or
self-interested concerns of the bar. Every lawyer is responsible for observance
of the Rules of Professional Conduct. A lawyer
should also aid in securing their observance by other lawyers. Neglect of these
responsibilities compromises the independence
of the profession and the public interest which it serves. (From Virginia
Rules of Professional conduct)
The VSB can do anything they choose, and cannot be charged with misconduct whether guilty or not. It is a group of lawyers, overseeing lawyers, with no further oversight. No further legal recourse is available. The VSB cannot be cleared of any charges, because the cannot be charged by anyone, according to the State Attorney General's office. My former attorney was cleared of misconduct by the bar after a 26 month of investigation leading to cancelled hearing for prosecution. The explanation given for clearing the attorney made reference to inaccurate case facts, and this was pointed out to the bar, to no avail. The acts of the bar and those of the attorney that were reported to the bar, including documents showing what I believe to be misconduct and malpractice will be published within the novel version 'Poisoning The American Dream'. The story reveals some easy steps to make the VSB completely impotent and useless, if you are an attorney needing to eliminate your own clients case for whatever reasons.
Possible legal action issues against the state of Virginia could be limited to the governor. (There are numerous legal avenues possible against several people should a sober attorney wish to challenge NVR/ Ryan Homes. Such a case could require a US supreme court ruling, and requires a willingness to redefine laws. By my understanding, he accepted petitioning from insurance groups to wave any liability from insurers for toxic mold, or mold of any kind. If this is accurate, victims of toxic mold, like ourselves, might consider class action against the governor. A home affected by toxic mold can become uninhabitable, (loss of use) and beyond the resources of homeowners to restore, which can make homeowners homeless through no fault of their own. The question that arises is, did the governor hastily create a legal waiver for insurance companies under the guise of keeping insurance cost down that was designed to make certain Virginia resident homeless through no fault of their own?
"unpleasantness -Shields threats for disclosure of the subject of complaints, he calls slanderous" I suppose he is referring to a false and malicious spoken statement- on a web page? Notice on his CC list, Ryan Homes was included. Ryan Homes was who he was supposed to file suit against, but he clung to the case and prevented suit ever being filed against them, then here, tries to solicited their support against us, his former clients. Also not, that during my unfortunate talks with a Ryan Homes Rep, I discovered Ryan Homes had confidential knowledge about our case that could only have come from our attorney.
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