W. Anthony Pearson

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

The Respondent acted for vendors in a property sale. The complainant building society mistakenly wire-transferred JMD 13,000,000 to the Respondent's firm without first deducting the sum needed to discharge the vendors' existing mortgage, resulting in an overpayment of JMD 9,972,979.53. Despite repeated demands, the Respondent failed and refused to repay this excess sum to which neither he nor his clients had any bona fide claim. The Panel found him guilty of professional misconduct, describing his conduct as reprehensible and dishonourable, but deferred sanction pending a mitigation hearing. No express finding of dishonesty was made.

Duties found breached:

• Overriding duty to the court
• Uphold public trust in the profession

Aggravating factors:

• Caused the complainant to suffer prejudice and loss
• Conduct described as reprehensible and dishonourable, bringing shame on himself and the profession
• Failed to provide any written response to demands for repayment
• Broke promises to repay the monies