Decision record
Donovan O. Foote
Appeals and appellate references
- Appellate document — relationship to this matter unverified: AG Cayman v Tibbets 2010 3 All ER 95
- Appellate document — relationship to this matter unverified: Williams et al v Commissioner of Corrections
- Appellate document — relationship to this matter unverified: Georgette Scott v GLC SCCA
- Appellate document — relationship to this matter unverified: Joy Hew v Sandals Resorts International Ltd. and Sandals Grande Ocho Rios.
“Unverified” means the upstream page linked an appellate judgment but did not preserve enough context to prove that it was an appeal in this matter.
Allegation / charges
Guilty of Professional Misconduct | Disciplinary Committee decision delivered November 23, 2020. || Struck off, Restitution ordered | Disciplinary Committee decision delivered November 23, 2020. View PDF DECISION OF THE DISCIPLINARY COMMITTEE OF THE GENERAL LEGAL COUNCIL COMPLAINT NO: …
Findings — machine-extracted (anthropic-batch:claude-opus-4-8); verify against the decision
Attorney Donovan Foote was retained under a contingency agreement in a dental-negligence civil suit that settled out of court for J$23 million, but he told the complainant it settled for J$16 million and paid her share on that basis. He concealed the true settlement figure, filed a notice of discontinuance without informing her, relied on a confidentiality clause he was not contractually bound by, and advanced a defence (that she signed two separate release documents) which the panel found patently false. Applying the criminal standard (beyond reasonable doubt), the panel found the Attorney's conduct dishonest, made out breaches of Canons 7(b)(ii) and 1(b), and found him guilty of professional misconduct. It rejected allegations of bias, predetermination, and improper panel conduct. Sanction was deferred to allow submissions in mitigation.
Duties found breached:
Aggravating factors:
- Contrived a scheme calculated to deceive the client to fraudulently deprive her of the full benefit of her settlement
- Concealed true settlement figure of J$23 million, accounting only for J$16 million
- Deliberately misleading letter (30 Nov 2012) suggesting a pending trial when suit already discontinued
- Relied on a false defence that client signed two separate release documents
- Misused a confidentiality clause he was not bound by to avoid disclosure
- Failed to file affidavit in response as required by law
- Repeated absences causing multiple adjournments (cost orders of J$10,000 and J$100,000 made during proceedings)
Mitigating factors:
- Eventually repaid part of the disputed funds (J$5,322,172.50) to the complainant through her attorneys
Duties engaged
Other decisions involving this respondent
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Documents
Source: https://www.generallegalcouncil.org/judgement/donovan-o-foote-complaint-no-12-of-2015/