Justice Bennett Ilaumo ordered the bank to pay N500,000 against Nwoko’s prayer of N100 million as damages and N1 million as the cost of her legal action.

Polaris Bank has been ordered by an Akwa Ibom State High Court to pay N500,000 damage to a customer over its failure to reverse a failed point of sales (POS) transaction within 72 hours as provided by law.

Idongesit Nwoko made a withdrawal of N61, 000 via POS on December 24, 2020, but was debited without payment.

The civil servant made several efforts, including several visits to the bank, but the debit was not reversed until after 28 days.

In her ruling, Justice Bennett Ilaumo ordered the bank to pay N500,000 against Nwoko’s prayer of N100 million as damages and N1 million as cost of her legal action.

The bank’s lawyer Anthony Ebuk told Premium Times on Wednesday that the judgement will be appealed.

“The woman was debited on December 24, 2021 but she did not notify the bank until after the Christmas holidays about January 4, 2022. From the day she notified the bank we covered the period and returned her money within the 16 days in line with the law,” Mr Ebuk said.

He claimed that the plaintiff did not ask for payment of damages for the delayed reversal which the court awarded to her, adding that the judgement was not based on the pleadings of the party, but on “a total misdirection of fact”.
 

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