Shaun A. Reynolds

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

Attorney Shaun Reynolds was retained in 1993 to act for British national Colin Steed and his wife in purchasing land at Cousin's Cove, Hanover, also acting for the vendor. Although the full purchase price was paid by mid-1993, the attorney never secured registered title for the complainant. He failed to lodge a caveat, failed to advise suing for specific performance, and failed to respond to correspondence. This left the complainant unable to complete an onward sale to the Browns and unable to buy a home in the UK. The Disciplinary Committee, applying the criminal standard, found the attorney guilty of professional misconduct breaching Canons IV(r) and IV(s). No dishonesty was found; the tribunal expressly noted no allegations of deceit or moral turpitude. A fine of $200,000 was imposed (split between complainant and the GLC) plus costs.

Duties found breached:

• Overriding duty to the court
• No conflict between current clients

Aggravating factors:

• Acted for both vendor and purchaser
• Failed to lodge a caveat to protect complainant's beneficial interest after full purchase price paid
• Failed to advise complainant to sue vendor for specific performance
• Failed to respond in writing to numerous letters from complainant, the Browns, and complainant's English attorneys
• Complainant severely prejudiced - unable to complete onward sale and unable to purchase home in UK after six years
• Advised complainant it was okay to enter new sale agreement despite knowing vendor was reluctant to complete and no registered title obtained

Mitigating factors:

• Some of the delay attributable to recalcitrance of vendor Rebecca Buchanan and Rev. Herman Thomas

⚠ figures not found verbatim in the source were dropped: ["unverified_costs_amount=101300"]