Leighton O. Miller

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

Complaint by Ricardo Bond against attorney Leighton Miller (his nephew) arising from a 1999 car purchase where a default judgment of $685,681.00 was entered against the Attorney in 2004. The Attorney failed to settle the judgment and breached a written professional undertaking to pay the balance by 31 October 2011. The Panel found beyond reasonable doubt breaches of Canon 1(b) and Canon VI(c). No express finding of dishonesty was made. The Attorney was ordered to pay restitution of $466,953.41 plus 6% interest, suspended from practice for 36 months (continuing until restitution paid), and ordered to pay costs of $20,000.00.

Duties found breached:

• Disclose adverse law to the court
• No conflict between current clients

Aggravating factors:

• Failed to comply with judgment despite repeated promises
• Breached written professional undertaking to settle balance by 31 October 2011
• Failed to attend hearings or explain non-compliance despite several adjournments

Mitigating factors:

• Underlying transaction occurred prior to enrollment while the Attorney was a student
• Made partial payments totaling $570,000.00