Summary of Disciplinary Action Decision
Gregory Louis Samuels
Vancouver, BC
Called to the bar: May 20, 1994
Discipline hearing: May 31, 2017
Panel: Herman Van Ommen, QC, Chair, Carol Gibson and Peter D. Warner, QC
Decision issued: June 29, 2017 (2017 LSBC 25)
Counsel: Alison Kirby for the Law Society; Robin N. McFee, QC and Jessie I. Meikle-Kahs for Gregory Louis Samuels
FACTS AND DETERMINATION
A citation was issued against Gregory Louis Samuels comprising six allegations relating to the handling of funds he received in trust for a client on the settlement of a personal injury action in Washington state.
The panel found that Samuels had committed professional misconduct with respect to four of the six allegations in the citation, including:
- improperly withdrawing, or authorizing the withdrawal of, US$9,690.05 from his trust account;
- failing to forward the sum of $10,202.20 to the Ministry of Health;
- misrepresenting to the client that a portion of the settlement proceeds would be paid to the Ministry of Health and failing to correct that misrepresentation when he decided not to pay; and
- commencing an action in the Superior Court of Washington State in the name of his client without her instructions.
DISCIPLINARY ACTION
- The panel ordered that Samuels:
- A summary of that decision can be found here.
- be suspended for 30 days; and
- pay costs of $16,090.