A sole director who was accused of providing false and/or misleading information in a schedule of costs has been cleared of any wrongdoing after the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal found the allegations were not proved to the requisite standard.
Amadin Nicholas Ekhorutomwen, admitted in August 2011 and the sole director at Mayfair-based firm Johnson & Steller Limited, was alleged to have provided false and/or misleading information in a schedule/statement of costs in which the costs specified exceeded the costs his client was entitled to claim in May 2017.
Ekhorutomwen, whose firm ceased trading in July 2020, had been instructed to defend a summary judgment application brought in a professional negligence claim.
In a written judgment following a three-day hearing, the SDT found the ‘operative retainer was based on an hourly rate’ and Ekhorutomwen’s ‘explanation was consistent with the documentary record, and his correspondence, though at times poorly drafted, did not reflect any intention to mislead’. It added: ‘The tribunal was satisfied that the respondent’s explanation was consistent with the client care letter and the cost schedule reflected the agreement in place at the relevant time.’
In regard to litigant in person costs, the SDT ‘accepted that the figure of £8,500 was high but found [Ekhorutomwen] had provided a credible explanation based on telephone discussions' with the client.
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‘There was no direct evidence that the respondent had opened an email attachment containing a lower figure, and the tribunal accepted his evidence that he had relied on verbal instructions. It found no personal or financial motive for dishonesty,’ the judgment said.
Dismissing both limbs of the allegation in relation to profit costs and LiP costs and finding the allegation was not proved to the requisite standard, the SDT said it gave ‘appropriate weight’ to Edkhorutomwen’s good character and evidence ‘from a number of regulated professionals’.
The case was dismissed and no costs order made.
