The High Court in Nairobi has ruled that security firm Wells Fargo Limited will not be required to compensate Quick Mart Limited beyond KSh 80 million for cash lost during transit, upholding a contractual liability limit.
In a decision issued on March 23, 2026, Justice F. Mugambi acknowledged that the retailer lost KSh 94,918,750 in November 2023 while the funds were in the custody of the security company. However, the court found that the agreement between the two parties expressly capped liability at KSh 80 million.
The case stemmed from a valuables-in-transit contract signed in February 2021, under which Wells Fargo was responsible for collecting and delivering cash from Quick Mart outlets to Family Bank.
Justice Mugambi ruled in favour of the security firm, stressing that courts cannot alter terms that parties have willingly agreed upon. The judge also noted that Quick Mart had been advised in the contract to secure insurance cover for any risk exceeding the agreed cap but failed to do so.
The court held that any loss beyond the KSh 80 million threshold resulted from the retailer’s own failure to manage its exposure.
Quick Mart had argued that the loss forced it to take out a KSh 95 million loan to address a cash flow shortfall and sought full reimbursement plus interest. It further contended that each cash collection from its outlets should be treated as a separate transaction eligible for individual compensation.
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Wells Fargo, however, maintained that its obligation was strictly limited to the contractual cap and stated it had already settled the KSh 80 million maximum.
In its ruling, the court emphasised that the agreement clearly applied the liability cap to the entire consignment rather than to individual collections. It further found that the cash, though sourced from multiple outlets, had been merged into a single consignment and lost within one continuous period of custody, making the KSh 80 million limit applicable to the total amount.
