Lorraine Earle

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

The Complainant paid the Attorney $728,000 in February 1993 to purchase property, but the Attorney failed to pay the vendor and the property was lost. The Panel found beyond reasonable doubt that the Attorney failed to account for and misappropriated the client's funds in breach of Canons VII(b) and I(b). Only $330,000 was repaid, leaving a balance of $398,000. The Attorney was struck off the Roll, ordered to pay restitution of $1,367,162.74 (principal balance plus 12% interest) with continuing interest, and $20,000 costs to the Complainant.

Duties found breached:

• No conflict between current clients
• No improper use of client money

Aggravating factors:

• Client paid full purchase price of $700,000 but Attorney failed to pay the vendor, causing loss of the property
• Attorney used client's money for her own purposes
• Failure to fully repay despite an agreement to do so; balance of $398,000 outstanding
• Attorney failed to sign the repayment document, indicating awareness of misappropriation
• Attorney failed to appear at the hearings despite proper service

Mitigating factors:

• Partial repayment of $330,000 made between November 2001 and August 2002