Ethlyn M. Norton Coke

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

The Respondent attorney acted for the Complainant in the sale of land. She failed to comply with instructions to secure rental and interest from purchasers allowed into early possession, falsely assured the client a rental agreement had been made (found to be a deception), failed to render a final account, and ignored repeated requests for information. The Committee found the complaint established beyond reasonable doubt, finding breaches of Canons VII(b), IV(s), IV(r) and I(b). It ordered restitution of J$315,000 with interest, a fine of J$50,000, and costs of J$20,000.

Duties found breached:

• No conflict between current clients
• No improper use of client money
• Overriding duty to the court

Aggravating factors:

• Falsely assured client that rental agreement had been secured, deceiving her into giving purchasers possession
• Persistent failure to render a final account over almost 6 years
• Repeated failure to respond to client's and counsel's numerous requests for information
• Failure to respond to the Complaint or appear at the hearing

Mitigating factors:

• Misconduct found not to be at the extreme end of the scale