ECOBANK GHANA LTD vs. SHALOM OIL [2017]DLHC6285

Date	2017-06-29
Suit No.	Suit No. BFS/93/14
Citation No.	[2017]DLHC6285

JENNIFER DODOO (MRS)

LAWRENCIA GHANSAH FOR THE PLAINTIFF

KOBINA DARKO-ASIEDU FOR DEFENDANT

[2017]DLHC6285
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													<main id="main" class="content" style="min-height: 60rem" >ECOBANK GHANA LTD<o:p></o:p>{PLAINTIFF}<o:p></o:p>vs.<o:p></o:p>SHALOM OIL<o:p></o:p>{DEFENDANT}<o:p></o:p>[HIGH
COURT (COMMERCIAL DIVISION), ACCRA]<o:p></o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
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Suit No. BFS/93/14&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;DATE:
29TH JUNE 2017<o:p></o:p>

</div>COUNSEL:
<o:p></o:p>LAWRENCIA GHANSAH FOR THE PLAINTIFF<o:p></o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
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&nbsp;KOBINA DARKO-ASIEDU FOR DEFENDANT<o:p></o:p>

</div>CORAM:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <o:p></o:p>JENNIFER DODOO (MRS) JUSTICE OF THE
HIGH COURT<o:p></o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border-top:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
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<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center;line-height:115%;
border:none;mso-border-top-alt:solid windowtext 1.5pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:
solid windowtext 1.5pt;padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:1.0pt 0in 1.0pt 0in">JUDGMENT<o:p></o:p>

</div><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>The Plaintiff a limited liability
company engaged in the business of banking instituted suit against the
Defendant a fuel distributor for recovery of the sum of GH¢73,264.50.&nbsp; The Plaintiff’s case as could be gleaned from
its Statement of Claim was that the Defendant had on 20th December
2012 issued a Stanbic Bank Cheque with the face value of GH¢73,264,50 in favour
of Shell Ghana Ltd.&nbsp; This cheque had been
deposited with the Plaintiff to be credited to the account of Shell Ghana
Ltd.&nbsp; Shell Ghana Ltd later informed the
Plaintiff that upon reviewing their account it was found that the said cheque
had not been credited to their account.&nbsp;
The Plaintiff upon investigation detected that the cheque had been
inadvertently misplaced by bank staff.&nbsp; <o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>It was the Plaintiff’s case that it
notified both the Defendant and Shell Ghana Ltd of the misplaced cheque and requested
the Defendant to block the missing cheque to prevent it from falling into the
wrong hands and being encashed.&nbsp;
Plaintiff eventually had to pay Shell Ghana Ltd the value of the cheque
whilst awaiting the Defendant to re-issue the cheque.&nbsp; To date, the Defendant had not re-issued the
cheque.&nbsp; <o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>The Defendant case is that it never
had any transactions with the Plaintiff.&nbsp;
It said it had dealings with Shell Ghana Ltd and maintained that it had
fulfilled its obligations to Shell Ghana Ltd by issuing a cheque to cover its
indebtedness.&nbsp; It was its stance that it
was the negligence of Plaintiff’s staff that had occasioned the alleged loss of
the cheque and whatever difficulty or inconvenience occasioned by the loss
could not be visited on the Defendant.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>The issues set down for trial were:<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p><ol style="margin-top:0in" start="1" type="1">
 <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;line-height:115%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1">Whether or not the cheque for
 GH¢73,264.50 was deposited at Plaintiff’s bank by order of the Defendant
 to be credited to the account of Shell Ghana Ltd?<o:p></o:p></li>
 <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;line-height:115%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1">Whether or not it was the
 negligence of Plaintiff’s staff that occasioned the loss of the said cheque?<o:p></o:p></li>
 <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;line-height:115%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1">Whether or not the Defendant
 was privy to any correspondence between the Plaintiff and Shell Ghana Ltd
 regarding the said cheque?<o:p></o:p></li>
 <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;line-height:115%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1">Whether or not the Defendant
 promised to re-issue the alleged lost cheque?<o:p></o:p></li>
 <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;line-height:115%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1">Whether or not the Plaintiff is
 entitled to recover the said amount of GH¢73,264.50 from the Defendant?<o:p></o:p></li>
</ol><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>The court would first consider
issues 1 and 2 which are:<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p><ol style="margin-top:0in" start="1" type="1">
 <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;line-height:115%;mso-list:l1 level1 lfo2">Whether or not the cheque for
 GH¢73,264.50 was deposited at Plaintiff’s bank by order of the Defendant
 to be credited to the account of Shell Ghana Ltd?<o:p></o:p></li>
 <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;line-height:115%;mso-list:l1 level1 lfo2">Whether or not it was the
 negligence of Plaintiff’s staff that occasioned the loss of the said
 cheque?<o:p></o:p></li>
</ol><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>The Plaintiff which gave evidence
through its Customer Service Manager told the court in his witness statement as
follows:<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>On or about 20th December
2012, the Defendant Company issued Stanbic Ghana Ltd Cheque No. 000065 in
favour of our client Shell Ghana Ltd.&nbsp;
The said cheque was for an amount of GH¢73,264.50 and was deposited at
the Plaintiff Bank, the Head Office, Ridge by order of the Defendant to be
credited to the account of Shell Ghana Ltd.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>However, in March 2013, the
Plaintiff was notified by Shell Ghana Ltd that the amount had not reflected in
its account.&nbsp; The Plaintiff subsequently
discovered that the said cheque had been </main>