Tenerife resident successfully sues BBVA for putting her name on a debtors' register

Janet · 07-05-09, 01:23

BBVA has lost an appeal against a court judgement which found the bank guilty of defaming the character of a Tenerife resident.

It seems that the woman had found a sum of money deducted from her card (doesn't say debit or credit) for a trip to France, a purchase that she denied making. When she refused to accept the payment, the Bank gave her personal details to a debtors register.

When the case first went to court, the Judge decided that BBVA's action had injured her dignity, defamed her character, and attacked her self-esteem. Now the Appeal Court has agreed with that earlier judgement.

The Appeal Court's judgement now means that it is a legal standard that the inclusion of someone's name in a debtors' register, without confirmed verification of the debt, is an illegitimate attack on an individual's honour requiring compensation. In this case, the compensation awarded to the woman was €1,800, together with costs awarded against the Bank.

C24H

Duderock · 07-05-09, 01:31

Without knowing the finer details of the case it sounds like she deserved to win.

Janet · 07-05-09, 01:36

They don't give a great deal of information, but I imagine that some investigation was subsequently carried out for the first court to find in her favour. I don't think that the final award of €1,800 would have been made if the only thing BBVA had done wrong was to put her on the debtors' register without checking first.

I've long thought that Banks here need a few lessons from English banks (who are bad enough, after all) about how to deal with clients who dispute a transaction.