Howard A. Lettman

JurisdictionJamaica

BodyGeneral Legal Council — Disciplinary Committee (GLC)

Professionattorney

Case number254 of 2005

DateDecember 13, 2008

OutcomeFined

Allegation / charges

Fined | Disciplinary Committee decision delivered December 13, 2008. View PDF DECISION of THE DISCIPLINARY COMMITTEE of THE GENERAL LEGAL COUNCILCOMPLAINT NO. 254/2005 In the Matter of FREDERICK CHAMBERS and HOWARD LETTMAN, an Attorney-at-Law. AND In the Matter of …

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

SanctionFine

Suspension3 months

FineJMD 200,000

CostsJMD 20,000

Dishonesty foundNo

The Attorney, Howard Lettman, was retained in July 1998 to complete the sale and transfer of a 1/4 acre portion of land at Wales, Newport, Manchester, to obtain a separate title for the portion sold, and to return the parent title to the Complainant. Nearly ten years later he had not carried out the work, had not returned the certificate of title, failed to effect the transfer, and gave no explanation or progress updates despite verbal requests from 1999 and a written request in 2004. The hearing proceeded in the Attorney's absence after proper service. The Committee found, beyond reasonable doubt, breaches of Canons I(b), IV(r) and IV(s), amounting to professional misconduct under Canon VIII. It imposed a J$200,000 fine (payable to the Complainant), J$20,000 costs, and a conditional 3-month suspension if documents were not delivered by January 2009. No express finding of dishonesty was made.

Duties found breached:

Aggravating factors:

Delay of nearly ten years in carrying out the retained work
Failed to provide any explanation for the delay
Failed to keep client informed of progress
Did not appear or respond to the proceedings

Duties engaged

Other decisions involving this respondent

116 of 2015 2020-02-15 · GLC · Jamaica · Guilty of Professional Misconduct, Struck off
57 of 2008 2020-01-25 · GLC · Jamaica · Struck off, Restitution ordered
57 of 2008 2019-11-23 · GLC · Jamaica · Guilty of Professional Misconduct
212 of 2017 2019-11-23 · GLC · Jamaica · Struck off
215 of 2017 2019-11-13 · GLC · Jamaica · Struck off, Restitution Ordered
215 of 2017 2019-07-20 · GLC · Jamaica · Guilty of Professional Misconduct
16 of 2016 2019-06-22 · GLC · Jamaica · Suspended until Restitution Complete
212 of 2017 2019-06-01 · GLC · Jamaica · Guilty of Professional Misconduct
16 of 2016 2019-05-25 · GLC · Jamaica · Guilty of Professional Misconduct
124 of 2015 2019-03-09 · GLC · Jamaica · Guilty of Professional Misconduct

Matched by respondent name — may include a different person with the same name.

Documents

📄 Decision / judgment 108 KB (archived)

Source: https://www.generallegalcouncil.org/judgement/howard-a-lettman-complaint-no-254-of-2005/