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Showing posts from September, 2021

Arguing against grant of cost for Litigation Fees? This might be your line...

The Claim for Litigation cost is quite a recurring fact in most court processes. I do not intend to bring the argument here. In certain circumstances, courts have granted these sort of claims. In others, the court would refuse them. The court of Appeal in the case of  GUINNESS (NIG) PLC v.NWOKE (2000) LPELR-6845(CA) refused the claim for solicitor's fees. As a matter of fact, the court found that placing the burden of litigation on another party would go against public policy. The Court held as follows: I agree with the observation of the learned trial Judge who held, inter alia, that the cross-appellant's claim of his Solicitor's fees of N500,000.00 is in the nature of 'special damages'. The rule that special damages must be strictly proved applies to cases of tort. The rule requires anyone asking for special damages to prove strictly that he did suffer such special damages as he claimed. This, however, does not mean that the law requires a minimum measure of evide

The sanctity of Terms of Employment and Requirement of Proof for Claims

Cases are won and lost on proof. The position of evidence cannot be underestimated, particularly in claims for declarations. This same proposition works with labour disputes and where a court is called upon to pronounce on the employer / employee relationship, the scope has to be defined by the terms of employment as contained in the contract of employment. In SUIT NO: NICN/LA/52/2015 MR. OBINNA NKWONTA V. MULTICHEM INDUSTRIES LTD the National Industrial Court found as follows: In any employment relationship especially where there is a written contract, the contract document defines the terms and conditions of the relationship. The same written contract outlines the rights, obligations and liabilities of the parties under and in relation to same. In event of dispute arising between the parties therefore and judicial intervention is sought, the duty of the Court is limited simply to the construction of the contract document existing between the parties. See Okogie & Ors. Epoyun (20