Alh. Moh. Nuru V. Alh. Abdu Kore (1996)

LawGlobal-Hub Lead Judgment Report

OGUNTADE, J.C.A. 

At the Jos High Court of Plateau State, the appellant as plaintiff brought a suit against the respondent as defendant for fraudulent misrepresentation. The appellant (hereinafter referred to as the plaintiff) claimed as follows in paragraph 26(a) and (b) of the further amended Statement of Claim.

“…the plaintiff’s claim against the defendant is in special and general damages for fraudulent misrepresentation and breach of trust, the entire amounts given to him were to UTC Nig. Ltd. on the Hire Purchase transaction while they were not paid, consequently the trailer PL 1434 JD was seized and probably sold this caused (sic) a lot of financial and economic loss to the plaintiff. The plaintiff also still suffers damages.

WHEREOF the plaintiff claims against the defendant the sum of five hundred thousand naira being special and general damages.

(a) PARTICULARS OF SPECIAL DAMAGES

Four hundred thousand naira only (N400,000.00) being current market value of a T3 Fiat trailer.

(b) GENERAL DAMAGES

One hundred thousand naira for loss of earnings as a result of the loss of the vehicle PL 1434 JD.

IN THE ALTERNATIVE: The plaintiff claims his new T3 Fiat vehicle Reg. PL 1434 JD in good condition and one hundred thousand naira only being damages for loss of earnings as a result of the seizure of the vehicle.”

The parties filed and exchanged pleadings. The suit was heard by Uloko, C. J. C. who gave his judgment on 9/11/94. In the penultimate paragraph of the judgment the learned chief judge made his award in these words:-

“the plaintiff has proved his claim against him (i.e. the defendant) and considering the current price of the vehicle I feel that N450,000.00 as damages is a fair compensation to him and I hereby award him N450,000.00 as damages against the defendant for the reasons given above.”

It is pertinent to say here that the hearing of the suit and final addresses by counsel ended on 21/4/94, and the suit was then adjourned to 23/4/94 for judgment. However between 21/4/94 and the date fixed for judgment, the plaintiff brought an application seeking the leave of court to amend his further amended Statement of Claim. The plaintiff sought to claim the sum of N600,000.00 as the current cost of the vehicle and N1,400,000.00 as general damages for loss of use. On 26/7/94, in a ruling, the lower court dismissed plaintiff’s application.

The plaintiff has now brought two appeals – one against the judgment of the lower court and the other against the refusal of his application for leave to amend the further amended statement of claim.

With respect to the judgment of the lower court, the grounds of appeal raised by the plaintiff read thus: