Derrick J. Darby

Findings — machine-extracted (anthropic-batch:claude-opus-4-8); verify against the decision

Attorney Derrick Darby acted for the vendor in a land sale, received a deposit of $746,129.24 from purchaser Blossom Sinclair, and (with consent) used it to clear a mortgage in expectation of completion. The sale was not completed, a caveat lodged by the purchaser's attorney was lifted to facilitate a mortgage on the understanding the deposit would be repaid, yet Darby continued to act for the vendor in a subsequent higher-priced sale ($3.9M) without ensuring repayment. The Committee found NO professional undertaking was given and NO failure to account (no client money held on trust for Sinclair). However, it found Darby acted dishonourably by continuing to act while facilitating unlawful breaches of contract, constituting professional misconduct under Canon I(b) and VIII(d). The Committee expressly declined to pursue any dishonesty/misappropriation enquiry given no complaint from Darby's own client. Ordered restitution plus interest and costs.

Duties found breached:

• Uphold public trust in the profession

Aggravating factors:

• Long delay in resolving the matter (complaint dating from 2000, underlying transaction from 1992)
• Continued to act for vendor in a subsequent sale without ensuring refund of deposit

Mitigating factors:

• Attorney admitted the debt was his to honour and indicated willingness to pay