John Anthony Thompson

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

The Attorney had carriage of sale of lots at Haughton Court, Hanover. The Complainant instructed him to cancel the sale of Lot 24 to her mother/siblings and complete the sale to her, paying US$770.00 retainer. Instead, the Attorney failed to cancel the agreement, completed the transfer 19 years later contrary to instructions, failed to advise the client he could not carry out the instructions until 2020, and did not refund the money. The Committee found him guilty of professional misconduct in breach of Canons IV(r) and IV(s), and imposed a reprimand, reimbursement, costs, a fine, and delivery of the title.

Duties found breached:

• Good faith and courtesy to colleagues

Aggravating factors:

• Failed to carry out client's clear instructions to cancel sale of Lot 24
• Completed the transfer of Lot 24 contrary to instructions 19 years later
• Failed to advise the client he could not carry out instructions until September 2020
• Failed/refused to refund the US$770.00 received

Mitigating factors:

• Conduct not warranting the severest sanction of striking off (per submissions accepted by Committee)

⚠ figures not found verbatim in the source were dropped: ["unverified_costs_amount=350000"]