February 28, 2024 has been set for a full day’s sitting to take further submissions in the suit brought by veteran lawmaker, Fitz Jackson against Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS) over the encashment fees charged by the bank.

Jackson, the opposition Member of Parliament for St Catherine Southern, has been on a years-long crusade to get financial institutions, in particular commercial banks, to reduce what he considers to be exhorbitant fees charged by the institutions.

He has informed that the matter between him and BNS regarding the encashment fees charged by BNS, continued recently in the Supreme Court at the case management phase.

“My legal team led by attorneys Anthony Williams and Annette Henry addressed our application for a summary judgment in light of the submissions that have been made so far from both sides.

“Next February 28th has been set for a full day’s sitting to take further submissions and our application for the summary judgment sought and the striking out of BNS defence. I am heartened that the court seems seized of the public interest nature of this case,” Jackson shared.

He said he was “looking forward to an early and positive conclusion, which will insulate BNS or others from any further capricious breach of the country’s laws, to satisfy their own interests, at my expense, and all other Jamaicans”.

Jackson took Scotiabank to court in July over a service charge he paid for the encashment of a cheque in 2019.

At the time, the Member of Parliament presented a cheque in the amount of $2,500 at the Scotiabank Portmore branch for encashment, but was informed that he would not be able to receive the cash unless he paid a fee of $385 or agreed to deducting the fee from the full amount on the cheque.

According to the claim presented by his attorneys, Jackson “paid the said fee of $385 to the defendant’s bank, Portmore branch under protest, to encash the said cheque and was issued a receipt for the same amount and cash in the sum of Two Thousand One Hundred and Fifteen Dollars ($2,115.00)…contrary to the instructions stated on the said cheque by the drawer for the defendant bank”.

The landmark lawsuit went ahead after attempts to settle the matter through mediation ended without resolution.

Jackson has contended that it is illegal to charge a fee under the Bills of Exchange Act which denotes a cheque as an unconditional negotiable instrument.

Jackson took the matter to court after failing to get the Bank of Jamaica, as the regulator of BNS, to use its moral suasion to get the commercial bank to discontinue charging the fee. The matter was also raised in Parliament with Jackson finding no success in getting any resolution.

Jackson is seeking a declaratory order from the court to say the charging of a fee to encash cheques is a breach of the Bills of Exchange Act, which would, in effect, be a declaration that the fee is unlawful.