The Supreme Court has suspended Counsellor Samuel Pearson from the practice of law for six months over allegations of “unethical conduct.”
The court also ordered Pearson to restitute the amount of US$93,369 and L$6,235,353.41, which he used under a purported Letters of Administration to withdraw from his late mother’s salary and personal saving accounts at the United Bank of Africa (UBA), and the Liberia Bank for Development and Investment (LBDI).
on June 23, 2022, he instructed the management of the said banks to close his late mother’s account.
The saving was a part of the Intestate Estate of his deceased mother, Mamie Hayford Pearson. The High Court took the decision after the Grievance and Ethics Committee (GEC), had initially found Cllr. Pearson liable.
The genesis of this complaint is traced to the demise of Mamie Hayford Pearson, the
Widow of J. Henric Pearson, a resident of Montserrado County.
Upon the death of Madam Mamie Hayford Pearson, Cllr. Pearson seized the properties, real and personal, including monies she deposited into her accounts at UBA and LBDI, respectively, during her life time, but leaving no will and last testament.
But, Ballah Yargbo, the complainant, and son of
the late Mamie Hayford Pearson, not satisfied with the manner in which his late mother’s estate, especially, monies deposited in the banks were administered by his step-father-and-surviving spouse of the late Mamie Hayford Pearson, J. Henric Pearson, in concert with Cllr. Samuel Pearson, and a nephew to J. Henric Pearson, on June 6, 2023, filed a complaint against Cllr. Samuel Pearson with the Office of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, seeking redress for his role played while administering the said Intestate Estate.
The complainant alleged that his step-father, James Henric Pearson, having remarried
after the death of his wife, Mamie Hayford Pearson, who was also the mother of the complainant, he, (complainant), being the only surviving child of the deceased, obtained Letters of Administration from the Monthly and Probate Court for Montserrado County on May 23, 2023; that on the strength of the Letters of Administration obtained, he unearthed that-Cllr. Samuel Pearson, a family lawyer, had earlier obtained a Letters of Administration in his own name on May 9, 2022, to administer the intestate Estate of his deceased mother, Mamie Hayford Pearson, without his consent; that Cllr. Pearson used the said Letters of Administration to withdraw US$45,000 from his late mother’s salary and personal savings account lodged at the UBA, and subsequently, on June 23, 2022, instructed the management of the said bank to close his late mother’s account, all to his exclusion.
The complainant further alleged that on July 27, 2022, Cllr. Pearson succeeded in having him, the complainant, and his step-father, James Henric Pearson, signed a Limited Power of Attorney, authorizing him (Cllr. Pearson), to access
and withdraw money from his late mother’s account housed at the LBD; that Cllr. Pearson, using the Limited Power of Attorney, withdrew an unspecified amount from the LBDI’s accounts of his late mother without disclosure and not until he presented to the management of LBDI his Letters of Administration obtained from the Monthly and Probate Court for Montserrado County to administer the Intestate Estate of his mother, that he discovered Cllr. Pearson had withdrawn the amounts of US$48,369.25 and
L$849,519.91; L$5,385,833.50 respectively.
Cllr. Samuel Pearson in his argument before the high court, restated his assertion contained in his response to the complaints.
Cllr. Pearson further argued that based on the records in the proceedings, there is no showing that he was in breach of any form of ethical misconduct as to his engagement with the deceased bank accounts, because he acted on the instructions of the complainant and the deceased surviving spouse J. Henric Pearson.