Lancelot A. St. Martin Cowan

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

The respondent attorney gave the complainant credit union professional undertakings (dated 8 December 2011 and 1 March 2012) to pay $1,500,000 plus interest and $675,000 from sale proceeds, and to deliver the duplicate Certificate of Title (Vol 950 Folio 364) if the sale was aborted. Relying on these, the complainant disbursed a $1,500,000 loan to Mr. Bair. The sale was never completed; the attorney parted with possession of the title by returning it to his client, failed to notify the complainant of difficulties with the sale, and failed to deliver the title or make payments despite repeated demands. The Panel found beyond reasonable doubt that the attorney was guilty of professional misconduct for breaching his undertaking under Canon VI(d). No express finding of dishonesty was made. No sanction was imposed in this decision; the Panel directed that a date be set for the attorney to be heard in mitigation before sanction.

Duties found breached:

• No conflict between current clients

Aggravating factors:

• Attorney placed himself in a position undermining his ability to honour the undertaking by returning the title to his client
• Failed to notify the complainant that the transaction was in jeopardy or had been aborted
• Caused the complainant prejudice and loss, leaving the indebtedness unsecured
• Failed to file affidavit in response within required time (filed late on 28 Feb 2017)
• Failed to file written submissions