Breach of contract and trust

Mr Ismail Mohamed took payment from us in July 2015 to handle a case for us. He took 2 months to start this case and when he eventually started he dragged the case. He everytime gave the defendant additional time to respond even when we instructed him to proceed. He eventually just left the case hanging and we filed a complaint against him at the Cape Law Society and then he advised he will not proceed with our case any longer. All that we want is our money back from him as the small claims court only makes decisions in favour of the higher people and forget about people struggling.