Decision record
W. Anthony Pearson
Allegation / charges
Guilty of Professional Misconduct | Disciplinary Committee decision delivered October 12, 2019. || Struck off | Disciplinary Committee decision delivered June 18, 2020. || Application for Suspension of Order Refused | Disciplinary Committee decision delivered June 23, 2020. View …
Findings — machine-extracted (anthropic-batch:claude-opus-4-8); verify against the decision
The Victoria Mutual Building Society complained that attorney William Anthony Pearson, who acted for vendors in a property sale, received JMD 13,000,000 in mortgage proceeds from the Society, JMD 9,972,979.53 of which was overpaid due to the Society's/DunnCox's mistake (failure to deduct the vendors' outstanding mortgage). Despite repeated demands, Pearson failed to return the excess funds. The Respondent filed no affidavit and gave no evidence, so the evidence was uncontested. The Panel found the Respondent guilty of professional misconduct in breach of Canons IV(s) and I(b), describing his conduct as reprehensible and dishonourable, but made no express finding of dishonesty. No sanction was imposed in this decision; the Panel directed a date be set for a mitigation hearing before sanctioning.
Duties found breached:
Aggravating factors:
- Caused the Complainant to suffer prejudice and loss
- Failed to respond in writing to demands and made unkept promises to repay
- Repeatedly refused/neglected to repay despite numerous requests
Duties engaged
Other decisions involving this respondent
Matched by respondent name — may include a different person with the same name.
Documents
Source: https://www.generallegalcouncil.org/judgement/w-anthony-pearson-complaint-no-10-of-2016/