Jackson secures go-ahead to challenge banking fees ruling

Opposition lawmaker Fitz Jackson says the decision by the Court of Appeal to give the go-ahead for him to challenge the 2024 dismissal of his banking fees-related lawsuit against Bank of Nova Scotia bolsters his belief that there are “very strong” grounds for a successful appeal.

 The decision by a panel of three judges was handed down yesterday in the hearing of an application for leave to appeal.

 “I am indeed very pleased and encouraged in my efforts to ensure that the banks do not continue to get away with [alleged] illegal fees and charges,” Jackson told The Gleaner following the ruling.

 An attorney for Scotiabank declined to comment when contacted yesterday.

 Jackson, the member of parliament for St Catherine Southern, filed the lawsuit against the banking giant in 2022 following an incident in May 2019 in which he claimed he was compelled to pay a $385 fee before a teller at the Portmore Branch of Scotiabank cashed a $2,500 cheque in his name.

 The lawsuit, which was filed by attorneys Anthony Williams and Annette Henry, sought a declaration that Scotiabank, through the imposition of the fee, had breached its obligation by failing to honour a negotiable instrument.

 Jackson argued that Section 73 of the Bills of Exchange Act defines a cheque as a negotiable instrument and stipulates that it must be honoured on demand without conditions.

 But Scotiabank, through its attorney, King’s Counsel Maurice Manning, countered that banks have a custom and practice to charge the cheque encashment fee.

 Supreme Court judge Justice Crescentia Brown Beckford, in her 2024 judgment, ruled that the bank's practice was not in breach of the Bills of Exchange Act or the Banking Services Act.

 Brown Beckford also found that Scotiabank's right to charge a fee for the service in question is subject to the obligations set by the code of conduct under the Banking Services Act.

livern.barrett@gleanerjm.com