Polaris Bank has obeyed the judgment of the the High Court of Akwa Ibom State, Itu Judicial Division presided by Honourable Justice Ilaumo which ordered it to Mrs Idongesit Utibe Nwoko the sum of N500,000.00 ( Five Hundred Thousand Naira) for failed POS transaction.
The Court awarded N500,000.00 against Polaris Bank in favour of Mrs Idongesit Utibe Nwoko for failure of the bank to reverse a failed POS transaction within 72 hours as required by law. It took the bank 28 days to reverse the transaction.
The fact of the case is that the plaintiff used POS to withdraw N60,000.00 but the transaction failed. The Bank did not reverse the transaction within 72 hours as required by law. The Bank finally reversed the transaction after 28 days.
The plaintiff had approached the court in Suit No. HIT/2/2021 - MRS IDONGESIT UTIBE NWOKO V POLARIS BANK for redress. The court held that the bank was negligent as to it's duty of care to his customer and therefore must pay damages of N500,000.00 to customer.
The judgment was delivered on the 4/5/2022.
Polaris Bank had initially indicated interest to appeal against the judgment. The bank made U-turn and paid the damages to save it's name, time and resources in pursuing an appeal that may turn out to be fruitless.
This is a land mark judgement. By this judgement NWOKO and Co Chambers has made history as the first law firm in Nigeria to secure victory for a bank customer who has been injured by a failed POS transaction.
We have also made history as the Law Firm that has incredibly altered the status quo position of banker/customer relationship as it's relates to Point of Sale (POS) E- banking transaction.
We honestly give Glory to God for this wonderful outing. Congratulations to us.
Ekom Nwoko
Head of Administration and Research
Nwoko and Co