OJEDOKUN & ORS V. HERITAGE BANK LTD

MUHAMMAD IBRAHIM SIRAJO, J.C.A. (Delivering the Leading Judgment): The appeal is against the decision of the Federal High Court, Lagos, delivered by I.N. Auta, J., (as he then was) on 08/05/2007, whereby the Appellants’ action was struck out for want of jurisdiction.

The background facts leading to this appeal, according to the Appellants, were that, Mr. Zacheaus Ojedokun, the husband of the 1st Appellant and father of the 2nd–6th Appellants, died intestate in the ill-fated Kenya Airways plane crash off the coast of Cote d’Ivoire on 30/01/2000. Kenya Airways, vide a letter addressed jointly to the 1st Appellant and one Mr. Timothy Ojedokun, the younger brother of the late Mr. Zacheaus Ojedokun, forwarded a Co-operative Development Bank Plc, Banker’s Cheque for the sum of N11,664,000.00 (Eleven Million Six Hundred and Sixty-Four Thousand Naira Only) as the balance of compensation for the death of Mr. Zacheaus Ojedokun, after deduction of legal charges. Like the letter forwarding the Ban…