The Case
What began behind closed doors would eventually spill into courtrooms, legal filings, investigations, and public record. The Case examines the next chapter of Leigh Ann Hood’s story - the lawsuits, subpoenas, law enforcement involvement, judicial proceedings, and years of legal battles that followed. Through firsthand accounts, court records, discovery, transcripts, and supporting documentation, The Dirty Docket traces how a private dispute became a sprawling legal fight with consequences extending far beyond the courtroom.
This is where the record takes over.
01
The Meeting
April 5, 2023
Hood says she entered Aguilar's office believing she was seeking legal advice and potential representation concerning money owed to her company by Haydin Construction.
During the meeting, she answered extensive questions and disclosed information she considered personal and confidential. Hood says she did so because she believed Aguilar was evaluating whether he could assist her.
According to her account, Aguilar repeatedly assured her that she was not “on his radar.” She says he told her he would speak with his client and contact her regarding how to proceed.
Less than three weeks later, the relationship Hood believed might result in legal assistance began moving in another direction.
On April 22, according to her chronology, Aguilar attempted to subpoena Hood's phone records. Hood was not yet a party to the lawsuit. She retained another attorney, challenged the subpoena and filed a motion to quash.
The person who had walked into an attorney's office seeking help was about to find herself pulled into the litigation.
02
The Escalation
One Case Becomes Several
On May 30, 2023, Hood was named in a Montgomery County lawsuit that she describes as substantially similar to the litigation already underway against Haydin Construction and Daryl Selzer.
That same day, according to her chronology, a lis pendens was filed against her homestead.
Another lawsuit followed in Harris County.
The legal proceedings continued to multiply.
The chronology Hood provided identifies litigation and related proceedings in Montgomery County, Harris County, federal court and, eventually, bankruptcy court. It describes subpoenas for phone and banking records, disputes over discovery, injunction proceedings, show-cause proceedings and five lawsuits filed during the early months of the conflict.
By October 2023, the dispute had reached federal court.
Hood's timeline states that during an October 11 hearing, Aguilar acknowledged to the federal judge that Hood had originally come to his office wanting to pursue a claim against Daryl Selzer and Haydin Construction. Hood says that exchange is preserved in the court transcript. Her chronology further states that the judge questioned why Hood was included in the litigation and stayed discovery as to Prime Development Group.
But by then, what was happening inside the civil courts was only part of the story.
03
The Search
June 2023
According to Hood, a Texas Ranger contacted her in June 2023 and asked to speak with her regarding a criminal investigation.
She agreed.
Hood says she spent approximately three hours at her home answering questions without an attorney present.
Days later, she received another call requesting additional questions. Again, she agreed.
This time, Hood says the Ranger arrived with an FBI agent and another man. Approximately 15 minutes into the conversation, according to her account, she was asked to surrender her phone and Apple Watch.
Then she was presented with a search warrant.
Hood says investigators spent approximately six hours searching her home and removing business-related materials and electronic devices. According to her statement, the property taken included devices belonging to her 11-year-old child.
For Hood, the dispute had crossed a profound boundary.
It was no longer contained within pleadings, hearings and courtrooms.
It had entered her home.
04
The Court Record
Beyond Allegation
Personal accounts can be disputed.
Court records provide another layer of the story.
Hood's chronology states that on June 12, 2023, the court granted her motion to quash the subpoena seeking her phone records. It also describes subsequent court scrutiny concerning discovery practices and litigation taking place across different jurisdictions.
A year later, the proceedings reached another significant point.
According to Hood's timeline, on June 12, 2024, Judge Kristin Bays signed an order disqualifying Aguilar from the Montgomery County case.
A sanctions hearing followed.
Hood's chronology states that sanctions were imposed on June 27, 2024, including payment of a portion of attorney's fees, continuing legal education requirements, and a written assignment addressing the conduct at issue and measures intended to prevent its recurrence.
Her timeline further states that subsequent appellate efforts were unsuccessful.
VIEW THE COURT RECORD →
The underlying orders, transcripts and related filings will be made available within the Discovery archive as they are reviewed and prepared for publication.
05
The Cost
What Happens After the Hearing Ends?
Court records can document motions, rulings and orders.
They don't necessarily document what litigation does to a person's life.
Hood says the allegations made against her caused significant damage to her professional reputation and earning ability. She attributes lost construction opportunities to public filings accusing her of fraud and says those allegations also complicated her ability to pursue reinstatement of her former real-estate appraisal license.
Then came the expense of defending herself.
Hood's chronology describes approximately 22 in-person hearings by mid-2024. Between July 2024 and May 2025, she says the proceedings generated more than 40 additional motions, orders and hearings requiring attorney involvement.
She estimates that her legal expenses ultimately exceeded $700,000.
Eventually, Hood says she could no longer afford to keep her attorney. Her timeline states that counsel continued representing her for several months despite her inability to pay.
On December 31, 2024, Hood filed for bankruptcy.
She describes the decision as one she made after exhausting her financial resources trying to sustain her company while simultaneously paying the mounting cost of litigation.
The financial consequences were measurable.
The personal consequences were harder to quantify.
Hood describes years of fear, uncertainty and reputational damage. She says she lived with the possibility that she might be arrested for conduct she maintains she had nothing to do with and describes becoming, in her words, “a prisoner in my own home.”
06
The Investigation Ends
July 12, 2025
More than two years after investigators first entered her home, Hood says she received the news she had been waiting for.
In her written account, Hood states that on July 12, 2025, she was cleared of criminal wrongdoing involving both herself and Prime Development Group.
She further states that the property confiscated during the 2023 search was returned to her during the summer of 2025.
DOCUMENTATION PENDING PUBLICATION →
The Dirty Docket is seeking to present the underlying disposition and property-return documentation alongside this account so readers can review the official record directly.
07
Why This Case Matters
The Story Is Bigger Than One Person
At its center, this case raises difficult questions about power, legal process, professional responsibility, reputation and what happens when allegations made in court follow someone far beyond the courthouse doors.
It also raises another question:
What happens to the person standing on the other side of those allegations while the system works its way toward an answer?
For Hood, the answer involved years of litigation, substantial legal expenses, damage to her career, the search of her home and an experience she says fundamentally altered her life.
But The Dirty Docket isn't asking readers to accept one person's version of events without scrutiny.
Quite the opposite.
Read the Record
Follow the Evidence
This investigation is being built around the documents the case left behind.
Court filings. Orders. Transcripts. Correspondence. Discovery materials. Financial records. Search documents. Public records. Interviews. And firsthand accounts from the people who experienced the events themselves.
Throughout The Dirty Docket, allegations will be identified as allegations. Firsthand accounts will be attributed to their sources. Legal arguments will not be presented as judicial findings. Opinions and analysis will be distinguished from documented events.
And wherever source materials can lawfully and responsibly be published, readers will be given access to them.
Because credibility doesn't come from demanding that someone believe your version of a story.
It comes from showing your work.
Read the record.
Follow the timeline.
Examine the evidence.
Decide for yourself.
Explore the Record
CASE FILES
Go deeper into the people, proceedings, developments and investigative reporting surrounding the case.
EXPLORE CASE FILES →
TIMELINE
Follow the chronology from the first lawsuit in March 2023 through the litigation and investigations that followed.
VIEW THE TIMELINE →
DISCOVERY
Examine the underlying filings, orders, transcripts, correspondence and supporting documentation as the archive is published.
EXAMINE THE DOCUMENTS →