Henry C. Johnson

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

The Complainant engaged the Attorney in December 2018 to handle a property purchase in Negril and wired US$66,070 to the Attorney's account covering the deposit, fees and closing costs. The Attorney submitted the deposit cheque to the vendor's attorneys, but it was dishonoured for insufficient funds. The Attorney promised to resolve the matter but did not. The Complainant retained another attorney to recover funds; an agreed repayment of US$44,875.91 was made, of which about US$29,700 was paid, leaving roughly US$15,000 outstanding. The Attorney attended the first hearing but, after suffering a stroke, failed to attend subsequent hearings, did not communicate with the Council or Complainant, and forwent the opportunity to cross-examine. Applying the criminal standard (beyond reasonable doubt), the Panel found the untested evidence reliable and found the Attorney in breach of Canons 4(r), 4(s), 7(b)(ii) and 1(b), and guilty of professional misconduct. No express finding of dishonesty was made and the decision text records no sanction.

Duties found breached:

• Handle inadvertently received material
• No improper use of client money
• Uphold public trust in the profession