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Court awards Honeywell N72.2b damages against Ecobank
In its eight-year legal fights with Ecobank Nigeria, Honeywell Flour Mills (HFMP) Plc was given N72.2 billion in damages by a federal high court in Lagos.
In a ruling handed out on Tuesday by Justice Mohammed Liman, the court granted Honeywell all of the reliefs requested in relation to the bank’s freezing of its accounts in November 2015.
Honeywell’s accounts had been frozen by Ecobank pursuant to an ex parte order that was given in an effort to wind up the company and resolve its debts to the bank.
In exchange for the ex parte order, Ecobank agreed to compensate Honeywell’s for any losses.
In December 2015, the court of appeal changed the order, but Ecobank was not happy and took its case to the supreme court, where it also lost.
Then, Honeywell went to the high court to sue Ecobank for the losses it sustained while the freezing order was in effect, requesting N72.2 billion in damages.
Losses resulting from currency devaluation, interest on unutilized cash balances, revenue loss, and aggravated and exemplary damages are among the damages claimed by HFMP.
Liman concluded that all of Honeywell’s requests for relief were granted.
“The plaintiff was denied the use of funds in his account based on the ex parte order granted in favour of the defendant. It is therefore my firm view that the plaintiff (Honeywell) is entitled to the amount claimed… The argument of the defendant in his written address is therefore not acceptable as the contents of the document are the best evidence and they speak for themselves,” he said.
He frowned upon Ecobanks’s lawyer’s approach, stating that “the purpose of an undertaking to pay damages has been held in a legion of cases to indemnify the party for the losses he may suffer on the bases of an ex parte order. Note that Rule 4 of the Winding Up Rules provides that all applications which affect the rights of parties in a winding-up proceeding must be made on notice.
“The provisions of the winding up rules are very clear and unambiguous. The defendant cannot claim ignorance of this provision as ignorance of the law is no excuse and it is even more inexcusable if it is committed by a lawyer. The ex parte application was therefore made ultra vires.”
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