It is usually defendant’s strategy to blame the client, at least to some extent.  Here in this case, even the court joined in.  Plaintiff was in an auto accident, hired an attorney who filed the complaint, and then gave up on discovery responses. Case dismissed, and incidently, the attorney was suspended, for an unrelated case.

Attorney lied to client, who eventually discovered the truth.  Outcome?  She sues attorney, wins uncollectible judgment, loses her attempt to revive auto accident suit.  Court says :

"Bland retained Graham in July 1998,” Sharer wrote. “It was not until December 2004, more than six years later, that she finally grew sufficiently suspicious of Graham’s inaction and failure to respond to her repeated calls, over several years time, to contact the Circuit Court directly to inquire into the status of her case. We agree with the trial court that Bland’s own actions do not rise to the level of ordinary diligence, nor did she satisfy her duty to keep herself informed of the status of her case."