Lawyer spared jail; pays former client $107,000

A lawyer who withheld more $100,000 in compensation from a client whose son died in a car crash has again been spared jail time.

In August, Justice Frank Seepersad ordered that attorney Kathy-Ann Mottley should be committed to prison for 60 days for twice failing to repay the money to her former client, Wendy Phillip.

On Monday, Seepersad discharged the committal order after Phillip’s attorney petitioned the court for the discharge, since Mottley had paid all the money she owed.

In his application for the discharge, Phillip's attorney Brent Winter told the court Mottley paid the entire judgment sum on August 28.

In his decision on August 11, the committal order allowed for High Court marshals to deliver Mottley to the Women’s Prison in Arouca until she paid the $107,000 judgment sum, and costs she was ordered to repay in February and June.

In March, she asked for an extension and was given a reprieve until June 1 to repay her former client. She did not.

Phillip’s application for committal was made under the Debtors Act, which gives the court the jurisdiction to jail a debtor.

In issuing the order for her immediate arrest, the judge said, “A no-tolerance approach to unlawful activity must be adopted. Persons especially those who hold positions of trust and authority must be held accountable.”

He said Mottley’s conduct was unlawful and unethical.

Phillip hired Mottley to represent her in a lawsuit involving her son, who had died in an accident. A default judgment was entered in Phillip’s favour as administrator of her son Kareem Richards’ estate and she was awarded damages, including costs and interest.

After the case ended, Phillip filed a complaint against Mottley with the disciplinary committee of the Law Association, which found her guilty of professional misconduct on May 4, 2017. Mottley was ordered to reimburse Phillip $113,000, and was fined $10,000.

Mottley appealed the committee’s decision, but later withdrew the appeal and agreed to pay her former client. She was also ordered to pay an additional $4,000 in costs for withdrawing the appeal, and interest, which was calculated at $7,298 for two years and seven months the money was owed.

On May 3, 2019, Mottley paid Phillip $10,000 by cheque and told her she was “selling a property” to get the full amount, but it was taking longer than expected.

Mottley said she would continue to make payments until the sum was paid in full, but did not.

Phillip’s new attorney Brent Winter, after a series of letters to Mottley and her attorneys, filed the application to have her pay up the remaining debt by November 4, 2019.

Phillip, a retiree, said Mottley has shown no interest in paying the money, and she needed it to meet various expenses.