Court blocks bank from collecting EC $800K from elderly couple who guaranteed their children’s business loan

7

The High Court has ruled that FirstCaribbean International Bank must withdraw its claim against an elderly couple who guaranteed an EC $800,000 loan for their children’s business, after finding the bank failed to ensure they understood the risks.

Justice found that Alburn and Veronica Samuel were not advised to seek independent legal guidance before signing as guarantors for Tyrells A1 Building Centre in 2010. The judge said the parents’ relationship with their children created a “relationship of influence” that should have prompted extra caution from the bank.

The court said FirstCaribbean presented no evidence that it explained the agreement to the couple or encouraged them to obtain legal advice, rendering their guarantees void.

While the ruling dismissed the bank’s claim against the parents, it upheld its right to recover about EC $3.8 million in loans from the business partnership itself.

Other relatives, whose properties were used as collateral, were also cleared of liability after the court ruled the bank altered the loan terms without their consent. They were awarded roughly EC $96,000 in damages and EC $10,000 each for defamation, after auction notices were wrongly published.

FirstCaribbean was ordered to pay the Samuels EC $7,500 in legal costs, with additional costs of EC $166,000 awarded to other defendants.

SOURCE: ANTIGUA OBSERVER

Advertise with the mоѕt vіѕіtеd nеwѕ ѕіtе іn Antigua!
We offer fully customizable and flexible digital marketing packages.
Contact us at [email protected]

7 COMMENTS

  1. Great to see justice, and that this family was not been hoodwinked and scammed by by these smart sharks loaning us monies in a very difficult arrangements while their offshore bank department cater for white or foreigners with loans agreement with moratorium.

  3. You got it all worked out, don’t you. You know who is guilty and who is innocent, because you have the power of generalisation.

  4. People like to act like they have all the information. How do you know these people just don’t have a good lawyer. You should withhold judgement until you have all of the facts.

  5. Is it the bank that is wicked or the children who had their parents as guarantors of their loan and end up defaulting on the loan knowing that their parents would end up homeless and penniless. Sounds like a set of wicked children to me.

  7. How come they say the Judiciary system in Antigua doesn’t work for the small man. Congratulations to the old people who the bank wanted to take to the cleaners.

Comments are closed.