Delivering judgement on Wednesday on the nine years legal battle, Justice I.G Chukwunyere, berated the bank for challenging a document it issued and yet refused to rectify the error after a complaint was lodged by the businessman (Plaintiff) to that effect.
The judge noted that the plaintiff timely reported the picture mismatch on his Mastercard to FCMB (defendant) but the bank failed to rectify the mistake despite that it acknowledged the error.
The court ruled that the defendant bank, having willfully refused to correct its error, was liable. Consequently, the judge ordered the bank to pay the sum of N10million as general damages .
SaharaReporters reported that Unegbu dragged the FCMB to court in 2013 after the bank put another person’s passport on his Mastercard, a mistake that caused him to lose his business.
The Plaintiff, had told the court how the mistake by the bank led to not only the closure of his business but also impoverished him.
Unegbu said: “The master card picture mismatch was discovered by my business associates in the US and they thereafter stopped transacting business with me and flagged me as a credit card fraudster.
“All my foreign business transactions have been halted as a result of this mistake from FCMB by putting another person’s image on my account and I have incurred a loss of over $500,000.”
The Plaintiff had prayed the court to order the bank to pay him N100m as compensation for the losses he suffered as a result of the picture mismatch.
Unegbu, who though commended the judge for the ruling, expressed dissatisfaction with the cost of damages awarded, saying, “it is not commensurate with my losses.”
“The court awarded N10million as damages but it cannot be equated with the loss I have inquired for the 12 years I have been out of business.
“I have spent more than N10million pursuing this case. However, I am thankful for winning the case against the bank,” he said.
He said that he would be approaching the appeal court bank to seek a higher review of the damages awarded by the court.