A physiotherapist whose estranged husband was twice furnished with confidential details of her account faced legal costs approaching £20,000 in Dublin Circuit Civil Court yesterday until the President of the Circuit Court, Mr Justice Esmond Smyth, intervened and stated it was a case in which he would have expected the bank to meet her costs.
Mr Justice Smyth had awarded £3,500 compensation in the case, involving the assessment of damages only, and intervened after he was told the amount was less than the sum lodged in court by the bank. Following brief legal consultations between the parties, he was told the bank had made an acceptable offer on costs.
It was learned later that the bank had lodged £6,500 in court.
The court had heard that Mrs Joan Sheridan of Orwell Road, Rathgar, Dublin, had suffered considerable emotional distress and inconvenience when her financial details had twice been disclosed to her husband, Mr Derek Sheridan, New Street, Killaloe, Co Clare.
Judge Smyth said the case had arisen from a breach of the duty of confidentiality which a bank owed to its customers, and the Bank of Ireland had come into court with its hands up.