Court orders Ecobank to pay Sh3m for seizing client’s lorry over loan

A court has ordered Ecobank Kenya to compensate a Nyeri trader to the tune of Sh3 million in damages for illegally seizing his commercial motor vehicle in a bid to recover an outstanding loan.

Nyeri Chief Magistrate Wendy Kegendo directed the bank to pay George Miatu the damages in respect to vehicle use loss at Sh25,000 per day between June 31, 2014 to October 31 the same year.

Mr Miatu sued the lender and Dalali Traders Auctioneers for causing him suffer loss after seizing his lorry when it was on a business trip for Mt Kenya Bottlers.

The evidence in court showed that the vehicle was withheld illegally at a yard and the trader lost three months unused insurance cover amounting to Sh98,400. He had paid Sh393,000 for annual insurance cover.

The trader in February 2013 applied for a Sh3.6 million loan but had defaulted, then started repayments at the end of March 2014. The court heard that despite repaying a sum of Sh555,000 as at July 31, 2014, the bank proceeded to impound the vehicle on the same day.

“The payment was on the day of the repossession. So, clearly it is mischievous for the bank to feign ignorance. Ordinarily the court would not impute malice into a commercial agreement, but in this case, the defendant acted in a most peculiar way such that the court agrees with the plaintiff that there was element of malice. Well maybe not malice but extreme zeal which now turned to an illegality,” said Magistrate Kagengo.

The court noted that the auctioneer failed to attend court to explain what had happened in respect to the date of repossessing the asset.