Debby-Ann Samuels

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

The Disciplinary Committee found Attorney Debbie-Ann Samuels guilty of professional misconduct for breaching Canons IV(f), IV(s), IV(r) and I(b) arising from her handling of the Complainant's mother's estate. She failed to obtain a Grant of Probate over two years, negligently lost duplicate certificates of title (left in a motor vehicle that was stolen, a fact she did not disclose to the client), prepared inaccurate legal documents, and charged unfair fees. Given her nine prior misconduct findings and lack of remorse, the Committee imposed a 6-month suspension (from 1 January 2026) with mandatory training, plus costs of JMD $100,000 to the Complainant and JMD $80,000 to the GLC. No express finding of dishonesty was made, though the tribunal described intentional manipulation of estate figures as reprehensible.

Duties found breached:

• No improper communication with the court
• Uphold public trust in the profession
• Act only on proper, lawful instructions
• Fair, reasonable and lawful fees

Aggravating factors:

• Nine previous findings of professional misconduct against the Attorney
• Initially failed to disclose/could not remember prior misconduct findings
• Lack of remorse and trivialization of her contribution to the losses
• Failure to advise the Complainant that the titles were in a stolen motor vehicle
• Loss of important documents including duplicate certificates of title
• Preparation of inaccurate legal documents that could not effect their purpose
• Failure to obtain the Grant of Probate over two years
• Intentional skewing/manipulation of estate figures to justify Parish Court probate jurisdiction
• Emotional and financial harm to the Complainant and her family

Mitigating factors:

• Foregoing her fees
• Preparing applications to replace lost titles
• Purportedly paying for the new attorneys' fees to replace the lost titles
• Character evidence from Nanetta Jarrett
• Lost documents are ultimately replaceable
• No inappropriate fiscal gain - purchasers' funds were returned

⚠ figures not found verbatim in the source were dropped: ["unverified_costs_amount=180000"]