Audley Earl Melhado

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

Complainant retained Mr. Earl Melhado to pursue a motor vehicle accident claim. The attorney negotiated a settlement of between $1.56m and $1.58m, collected the funds in May 2008, but failed to account to or pay the client, using the funds for other purposes. Despite a written promise to pay by January 2010, he reneged. The panel, applying the criminal standard, found breaches of Canon VII(b)(ii) and Canon I(b). Although full restitution was later made and leniency requested, the panel held client funds are sacrosanct and ordered the attorney struck from the Roll, with $30,000 costs to the complainant and $100,000 contribution to the Council's costs. No express finding of dishonesty was made.

Duties found breached:

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

Aggravating factors:

• Funds were intended to compensate the client for serious personal injuries already suffered
• Attorney used client's funds for other purposes and failed to pay over for approximately 4 years
• Client funds are sacrosanct; conduct went to the heart of the client-lawyer relationship
• Reneged on written promise to pay by 30 January 2010

Mitigating factors:

• Full restitution of principal and interest ($800,000 balance paid)
• Attorney and complainant had been friends for over 50 years and remained close
• Attorney did not dispute the complainant's evidence and acknowledged want of diligence

⚠ figures not found verbatim in the source were dropped: ["unverified_costs_amount=130000"]