Carleen McFarlane

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

Attorney Carleen McFarlane appealed the GLC Disciplinary Committee's finding that she breached Canon IV(s) by negligently paying the full refundable deposit (the complainant's money) solely to the co-purchaser Kayon Thompson without proper instructions. The Committee had ordered restitution of J$350,000 and costs of J$300,000. The Court of Appeal held the conduct was inexcusable or deplorable negligence (not dishonesty or lack of integrity), found the agency arguments unpersuasive, and dismissed the appeal, affirming the Committee's decision and order with costs of the appeal to the respondent.

Duties found breached:

• No improper use of client money

Aggravating factors:

• Mishandling of client's trust money, which the law treats as sacrosanct
• Failure to take proper/express instructions before paying out trust funds
• Reliance on an unreasonable interpretation of her own questionnaire ('and/or' answer) never explained to the client