FCMB appeals Court Judgment awarding N10m damages against it for putting wrong picture on client’s debit card

First City Monument Bank has appealed the Imo State High Court Judgement awarding N10 million as damages to a businessman, Kingsley Unegbu.
Justice I.G. Chukwunyere of the court on May 12, 2022, lambasted the bank for putting a wrong picture on Unegbu’s debit card.

The court ruled that the plaintiff timely reported the picture mismatch on his Mastercard to the defendant (FCMB), which the defendant accepted but failed to rectify.

It held that the defendant having willfully refused to correct its error was liable and subsequently ordered to pay the sum of N10 million as general damages only.

SaharaReporters had 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.

Unegbu had told the court how the mistake by the bank led to not only the closure of his business but also impoverished him after he went bankrupt.

He had in his pleas demanded that the bank pay him N100 million as compensation but the bank ignored his request, forcing him to institute a legal proceeding at the Imo State High Court in 2013 seeking relief from the bank.

In the appeal document, the financial institution asked the appellate court to set aside the judgment of the Imo high court.

It also requested the court to declare as lawful that another person’s security photograph with a different name can be used in US dollars MasterCard for international transactions.