Court Orders Defunct Diamond Bank to Pay Lawyer N25m for Freezing Account

Justice Sybil Nwaka of the Lagos State High Court, Ikeja, has ordered the defunct Diamond Bank Plc to pay Adetokunbo Odutola, Lagos-based legal practitioner, N25 million as damages for unlawfully freezing  of his bank account.

The court held that the bank failed in its duty of care to Adetokunbo and was thus liable for the injury that arose .

The court held as unacceptable the bank’s contention that it froze the lawyer’s account on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission’s (EFCC’s) instruction, noting that only a court could make such an order.

Justice Nwaka delivered the judgment in a suit marked LD/ADR/800/17 between Adetokunbo as sole claimant and defunct Diamond Bank as the sole defendant.

The suit originally involved three banks as defendants, but the first and third defendants settled with the lawyer out of court, leaving Diamond bank as the remaining defendant.

In his statement of claim, Adetokunbo, who represented himself, sought N25million against the bank as both special and general damages he incurred due to the bank’s “negligence and breach of duty of care.”

He averred that he “suffered embarrassment, hardship, disgrace and loss of income” following the unlawful freezing of his account.

In particular, the lawyer averred that a cheque he issued was rejected by the bank, his practice was financially affected and he had to resort to borrowing “N500,000 to repay N750,000” from a money lender.

The lawyer further stated that during the blockage, he was “engaged in a brief which would have earned him N10million,” but which he lost. But the bank, through its counsel, Olatunji Muritala, countered that the cheque was dishonoured on November 29, 2016 when it got a letter from the EFCC asking it to place a lien on the customer’s account.

It also challenged the claim for N25million on the ground that Odutola “failed to prove any economic loss suffered when his account was placed on Post No Debit (PND)”.

The defendant urged the court to dismiss the suit in its entirety and refuse all reliefs sought, with substantial cost against the claimant.

In her judgment of December 16, 2019, the judge upheld the lawyer’s claims.

Justice Nwaka held: “The bank went ahead to place PND on the account of the claimant on the instruction of the EFCC. The bank ought to have demanded from the EFCC an order of court to that effect.

“It is not in the power of the EFCC to authorise a PND on any customer’s account. The EFCC must not usurp the powers of a court of law. The duty of care owed the claimant by the second defendant (Diamond Bank) is nothing but breached.”

The judge said the bank’s inaction of not demanding for an order of court or an official letter authorising it to place PND on the claimant’s account,” amounts to negligence.