Decision record
Howard A. Lettman
Allegation / charges
Struck off, Restitution Ordered | Disciplinary Committee decision delivered November 13, 2019. || Guilty of Professional Misconduct | Disciplinary Committee decision delivered July 20, 2019. View PDF View Formal Order DECISION ON SANCTION OF THE DISCIPLINARY COMMITTEE OF THE …
Findings — machine-extracted (anthropic-batch:claude-opus-4-8); verify against the decision
The Respondent attorney, having carriage of sale, received a deposit of $834,950 covering costs, stamp duty and registration fees but failed to send required documents to the lender, causing the complainant's loan application to be cancelled and her to incur substantial expenses. The Committee found him inexcusably negligent and guilty of professional misconduct in breach of Canon 1(b), bringing the profession into disrepute. No express finding of dishonesty was made. He was struck off the Roll, ordered to pay restitution of $1,536,950 and costs of $300,000 (of which $100,000 was payable to the complainant).
Duties found breached:
- Uphold public trust in the profession
- No improper use of client money
- No baseless or threatened misconduct report
- Good faith and courtesy to colleagues
Aggravating factors:
- Failure to attend any hearings
- No affidavit in response or submissions in mitigation filed
- No explanation for utilization/distribution of client's deposit
- Received lender warning that loan offer would be withdrawn yet failed to send documents
⚠ figures not found verbatim in the source were dropped: ["unverified_costs_amount=300000"]
Duties engaged
Other decisions involving this respondent
- 116 of 2015
- 57 of 2008
- 57 of 2008
- 212 of 2017
- 215 of 2017
- 16 of 2016
- 212 of 2017
- 16 of 2016
- 124 of 2015
- 7 of 2017
Matched by respondent name — may include a different person with the same name.