Court orders N5m Diamond Bank to pay N5 for negligence

Delivering her judgment in suit No. W/546/2013 between Chief Francis Ometan and others and Diamond Bank Plc; Justice C. E. Ashilefu, who said the bank was negligent in the handling of the document kept in its custody, also awarded a N50, 000 as cost against the bank, noting that 17 years was not too long for the bank to be careless about safety of documents kept in its custody. The suit, which was instituted in 2013 at a Warri High Court, was later transferred to the High Court Otor-Udu, following the transfer of the presiding judge from Warri. Items deposited with the bank in 1997 included gold jewelries, beads and a land deed that was the subject-matter in the case of negligence established against the bank in the suit filed by J. O. Oweibo, for the claimant/applicants with A. A. Fole (Mrs.), of Gift and Duata Associates for the defendants/respondents. Counsel to the claimant/applicants, J. O. Oweibo, had sued the bank demanding N250 million as damages for negligence in the handling of the land deed that was found to have been thoroughly defaced and torn while in the bank’s custody, in which the bank was proved to have failed to perform.]]>