Gregory M.D. Lopez

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

The appellant, retained to handle a property sale, received full payment but failed to account for and pay over $1,504,000 owed to his client, leaving a balance of $654,000 at the time of complaint. The Disciplinary Committee found he had misappropriated the client's money and acted dishonestly, breaching Canons I(b) and VII(b), and ordered him struck off with costs of $50,000 ($30,000 to complainant, $20,000 to GLC). On appeal, he challenged only sanction and costs, arguing breach of natural justice at the sanction hearing (held in his absence) and that the sanction was harsh and excessive. The Court of Appeal held there was no procedural unfairness, as he had actual notice of the hearing and provided no excuse for absence, and that striking off was inevitable given the finding of dishonesty. The appeal was dismissed and the orders affirmed, with costs to the respondent.

Duties found breached:

• Uphold public trust in the profession
• No improper use of client money

Aggravating factors:

• Misappropriation of client's money, using funds for other purposes
• Repeated broken promises to repay
• Closed office and left no forwarding address
• Repayment only made after disciplinary hearing commenced
• Conduct put a stain on the reputation of attorneys

Mitigating factors:

• Made reparation (repaid the outstanding funds), though Committee regarded this as having no mitigating effect