The Federal High Court in Lagos has ordered Zenith Bank Plc to compensate Christomax Concept Limited, Chris Integrated Company Limited, and their principal, Mr Christopher Adayi, with N40,631,710 million in damages for fraudulent and illegal debits from their bank accounts.
Justice Alexander Owoeye delivered the ruling, emphasizing that the bank’s actions constituted a breach of fiduciary duty and caused financial losses, reputational damage, and undue hardship to the plaintiffs.
The plaintiffs, through their lawyer, Adetunji Adedoyin-Adeniyi, initiated suit number FHC/L/CS/2039/2024, demanding that Zenith Bank be held accountable for unauthorized debits.
Their legal claims included: A declaration that the bank’s failure to refund the fraudulent deductions breached its fiduciary duty, an order compelling Zenith Bank to refund N10.6 million, an injunction preventing the bank from recovering an outstanding loan granted to Christomax Concept Limited in May 2022, a demand for N500 million in damages for the breach of fiduciary duty.
Zenith Bank, represented by its lawyer, Ohimai Ovbioise, challenged the suit’s legitimacy, arguing that it was filed incorrectly as an Originating Summons instead of a Writ of Summons and should, therefore, be dismissed.
The bank also contended that the allegedly fraudulent N15 million deduction had been partially recovered, with N5,068,290 salvaged from Kuda Microfinance Bank.
Additionally, it insisted that declaratory reliefs could not be granted without solid evidence.
In his ruling, Justice Owoeye dismissed the bank’s arguments, highlighting its responsibility as the issuer of the debit card used for the fraudulent transactions.
He ruled that Zenith Bank had an obligation to authorize, monitor, and halt suspicious transactions once fraud was reported.
The court also criticized Zenith Bank’s failure to act after the plaintiffs reported the fraud on July 13, 2022, describing the bank’s conduct as “oppressive and high-handed.”
As a result, the court ruled in favour of the plaintiffs and issued the following orders:
Immediate refund of N10,631,710 deducted from their accounts, N30 million in damages for breach of fiduciary duty, loss of business, goodwill, embarrassment, inconvenience, and hardship suffered by the plaintiffs.
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