Jermaine Ryan Simms

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

The complainant retained the Attorney, Jermaine R. Simms, to act on the 2007 sale of his property for JMD 2,100,000. The Attorney received JMD 1,865,600 from the NHT as balance purchase proceeds on the complainant's account. He issued a client-account cheque for JMD 1,400,000 which was dishonoured for insufficient funds ('refer to drawer'), and never replaced it or paid the complainant, telling him he had lost money in Cash Plus. The Committee, proceeding largely in the Attorney's absence, accepted the complainant as a witness of truth and found beyond reasonable doubt that the Attorney misappropriated the funds, breaching Canons I(b), VII(b) and VIII(b), and was guilty of professional misconduct. No sanction is set out in this portion of the decision.

Duties found breached:

• Uphold public trust in the profession
• No improper use of client money