Court Orders Ecobank To Pay Honeywell N72.2bn As Damages
A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has ordered Ecobank Nigeria to pay Honeywell Flour Mills Plc N72.2 billion as damages for frivolous action.
The court presided over by Justice Liman, held that the plaintiff’s right to the damages sought had crystalised, adding that the plaintiff had a right to maintain the action.
It therefore granted all the four reliefs sought by Honeywell Flour Mills to the tune of N72.2 billion.
Justice Liman in his judgment in the suit by Honeywell Flour Mills against Ecobank Nigeria Limited, held that the argument of the defendant (Ecobank), had no basis whatsoever.
Justice Liman declared; “The defendant’s arguments in this regard cannot stand. I have no hesitation in granting reliefs in favour of the plaintiff”.
Honeywell Flour Mills in 2018 in a suit marked; FHC/L/CS/1554/2018 against Ecobank Nigeria Limited, sought legal redress for the losses it incurred as a result of an ex-parte granted the bank to freeze its assets in 2015.
Ecobank had sworn to an oath to indemnify Honeywell Flour Mills, if the ex-parte orders were deemed frivolous.
However, counsel to Honeywell Flour Mills, Bode Olanipekun, SAN, argued that since the Supreme Court’s determination that the ex-parte orders obtained by Ecobank were improper, it therefore implied that the application was frivolous.
He said that against this backdrop, Honeywell Flour Mills had to seek for damages for losses it suffered, stressing that Ecobank’s actions inflicted significant harm and financial losses on business operations of Honeywell Flour Mill.
Shortly after the Court judgment, Mr. Olanipekun said that the judgment of the court was a commendable decision and precedent in an area of the nation’s jurisprudence that has been scarcely tested.
In his words; “The court awarded damages in a claim brought on the premise of an undertaking given for the grant of ex-parte orders which both the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court found were improperly sought and granted”.
