Liberia: Civil Law Court Set Date for US$700K Damages Case against Ecobank - FrontPageAfrica
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Monrovia – After months of delay, the Civil Law Court has scheduled October 3 as the date for proceedings in the US$700,000 damage case against Ecobank Liberia Limited.
By Victoria G Wesseh
In Judge Dunbar’s Writ of Re-summon, he outlined a series of deadlines for filings from both sides to assess the impact of several legal issues on the case, including the bank’s investigation findings.
Smith is the former deputy director for Information and Coordination at the Liberia Institute for Statistics and Geo Information Services.
He was dismissed by former President George Weah, after the bank allegedly leaked information of LIGIS’s account number#6101350441 and 6100064362 details to Mr. Alex Williams, LISGIS’s former deputy director for Statistics.
Williams, the complaint claims, who is one of the panelists on the Spoon Talk Show, used the leaked statement, to accuse the plaintiff of withdrawing monies from said accounts, and diverted the same to his personal benefits.
Smith is demanding US$500,000 in general damages and US$200,000 as punitive damages.
Smith’s lawyer during the hearing will set out the evidence they plan to use at trial and arguments for why none of that material — or any of the allegations in their complaint filed against Ecobank Liberia — is subject to the standards set for claiming damages.
The documents include some evidence that goes beyond what was made public in the complaint.
The hearing will discuss next steps in the case, which had been in limbo for months, as Mr. Smith pursues his claims against the co-defendant Ecobank.
Smith’s complaint claims that the said statements were manipulated by the defendants and the management of Spoon TV, and Mr. Stanton Witherspoon to lie that the said statements were evidence of the wrongful withdrawal.
The court record claims that at the time of the libelous action, co-defendant Kromah was then employed by the co-defendant bank, in the Card Operation Department.
“This act of Kromah was carried out on October 31, 2022, admitted to it in an Affidavit of attestation dated March 30, ” the record alleges.
The suit further argues that co-defendant Eco-bank, after investigating and being fully aware that their conduct against the plaintiff, had harmed his reputation, claiming “the defendants engaged in a cosmetic approach of attempting to deal with the situation, dismissed co-defendant Kromah on January 19, 2023.”
The lawsuit claims that defendant Eco-bank is responsible for the act and conduct of its employee, Kromah, because the co-defendant Eco-bank lawfully employed Kromah. Under the doctrine of Respondent’s superior, the employer is responsible for the act and conduct of its employee, especially when the wrongful conduct was done during the course of duty of the employee and within the working hourly time of the employee in the bank facility,” the lawsuit said.
The suit also argued that the willful and calculated acts of the defendants to subject the good and untainted regulations of plaintiff, without any legal jurisdiction, is intended to expose the plaintiff to danger and harm, in the public that he had the enormous sum of money owed to the banking, thereby ignoring the frequency of crimes reported in the Liberian society. “This act of the defendants is wrongful, and the action of damages for Wrong for libel and slander will lie against the defendants.”
“The defendants continuous act to defame the reputation of the plaintiff on national radio stations, print media and other intellectual forums does not only damage and taint the importance of the plaintiff but has clouded and subjected the lives of the plaintiff to unwanted national and international insecurity,” the lawsuit said.