Man Suing Bank For Dishonouring Cheques

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30588, 3 November 1964, Page 3

Man Suing Bank For Dishonouring Cheques

(New Zealand Press Association) AUCKLAND, November 2. A man who alleged he had two cheques for a total of £l5ll dishonoured after a bank officer wrongly told him that £2208 5s had been credited to his account, claimed £2511 damages from the Bank of New South Wales in the Supreme Court at Auckland today.

James Nelson Tait, aged 65, a fisherman, of Auckland, is claiming the bank was negligent in wrongly crediting the money to his account and in not informing him of the error immediately it was discovered.

He is seeking general damages of £lOOO and special damages covering the value of the dishonoured cheques.

In his claim Tait said that until last February, he lived in Coromandel, his income coming from a war pension and small earnings from the sale of vegetables. On January 21 he had asked at the bank’s Queen street branch, for the balance of his account and was told it had been increased by the lodgement of £2208 5s remitted from the, National Commercial Bank of Scotland, Ltd. He was told that he would receive a letter confirming this. He had received the letter, and having no reason to doubt it, had acted on it by writing a cheque of £516 to repay a loan and a cheque for £995 to buy a car.

He said he had given up his cottage at Coromandel to come to Auckland and his rent had increased by £l5 3s 8d a month.

The cheques had later been dishonoured. The bank admits that Tait asked for the balance of his account verbally, but denies he was advised that it had been increased by the lodgment. It claims that at the time of the inquiry Tait was informed that the money had been remitted to another customer of the same name. The bank alleges that at the request of Tait more inquiries had been made and Tait had been told the money was not forwarded to his credit. The bank claims that if it was negligent, Tait was guilty of contributory negligence by failing to act on the verbal advice given to him that the money was not to his credit, and by failing after receiving the bank’s letter to check the information in it.

Mr R. L. Maclaren, appearing for Tait with Mr R. J. Sutton, told the Court that Tait’s parents had come from Scotland and that he still had relatives there.

Mr P. Towle, for the bank, said the evidence would be that a girl in the bank told Tait of the remittance, that he expressed considerable surprise, that she then went away and made further inquiries and found that it was in fact for another customer who was also named Tait.

Mr Towle said the ' girl would give evidence that she then returned to the counter and made the position absolutely clear to Tait. The hearing before Mr Justice Boys and a jury will be continued tomorrow.