ACTION – NIGERIAN CASES ON LITIGATION/PRACTICE/PROCEDURE ISSUES
POLICY, PRACTICE & PUBLISHING LAW REPORTS, 3PLR
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TITLE |
MAIN ISSUES |
| A G LEVENTIS AND CO LTD V. ABASIOGBOYE |
ACTION:- Action validly commenced – Subsequent change of defence making proceeding irregular – Effect. ACTION:- Action for possession – Defendant asserting in pleadings to be owner-At trial claiming to be a tenant – Effect. |
| ACTION:- Action validly commenced – Subsequent change of defence making proceeding irregular – Effect.
ACTION:- Action for possession – Defendant asserting in pleadings to be owner-At trial claiming to be a tenant – Effect. |
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| A.D. GULAB (NIGERIA) LTD V. SACHDEVA |
ACTION:- Action validly commenced – Subsequent change of defence making proceeding irregular – Effect. ACTION:- Action for possession – Defendant asserting in pleadings to be owner-At trial claiming to be a tenant – Effect. |
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| A.-G, FEDERATION V. A.-G, IMO STATE & ORS. |
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| ABACHA and ORS V. SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT |
ACTION:- Cause of action – meaning of. Joinder of parties – complaint of non-joinder after issue of third party notice |
| ABANG V. EFFIOM AND OTHERS | ACTION:- Civil Action – Damages – Trespass and injunction – 250 acres of land granted under Native Law and Custom of Izundu. |
| ABDALLAH V. ACHOU |
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| ACTION:- Enforcement of Fundamental rights – Action therefor -Jurisdiction of court to entertain – Condition precedent thereto. | |
| ABDUL YARI, ALIYU GANDU AND MUSA BAKO V. AUDU SARKI (CA |
ACTION:- Why court will not make an un-enforceable order). |
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ACTION – FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT PROCEDURE:- Reliefs or claims not maintainable under the Fundamental Rights (Enforcement Procedure) Rules – Need for Court to apply the correct or proper principle by solely examining the reliefs or claims of the Applicant ACTION – FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT PROCEDURE:- Common law claims – Different types of torts such as assault and battery, trespass to land, trespass to chattel or goods, detinue and even false imprisonment disclosed by evidence adduced before court – Whether a claim under the common law can properly be joined in an application under fundamental rights enforcement procedure of the Constitution, where such a claim is secondary, ancillary or incidental to the complaint of a breach of fundamental right ACTION – COMPETENCY – FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS ENFORCEMENT PROCEDURE: – Claims and reliefs found to be primarily tortious in nature – Where the tortious claims are the principal claims even if there existed some fundamental rights infringement as found by court – Whether Court would be entitled to hold that a wrong procedure has been adopted under the Fundamental Rights (Enforcement Procedure) Rules, instead of by the issuance of a Writ of Summons – Whether bringing such a suit under a fundamental rights enforcement procedure instead of a writ of suits is a fundamental breach and not a mere technicality, which can be waived or ignored and thus incompetent – Whether such failure infringes one of the indicia of jurisdiction as laid down in Madukolu v. Nkemdilim (1962) All N.L.R. (part 2) 581 at 589, to wit: that an action is initiated by due process of law which in that case is by writ of summons |
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| ACTION:- Undefended list procedure – Object of – Matters brought thereunder – Need for careful determination of to avoid defeat of the object. | |
| ABIA V. OGBU |
ACTION:- Representative actions – Defending in representative capacity – Grant of authorisation from co-defendants – Need for consequential amendments. ACTION:- Representative actions – Persons Defending in representative capacity – Need for authorization from co-defendants. |
| ABIBATU FOLAMI & ORS V. FLORA COLE & ORS | PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE – CIVIL PROCEEDINGS:- Allegation of fraud in civil actions – Burden of proof – Whether beyond reasonable doubt – Onus of proof |
| ABIETO ALAGOMA & ORS v. SHELL PETROLEUM DEVELOPMENT COMPANY LIMITED |
ACTION – PRELIMINARY OBJECTION – JURISDICTION:– What determines jurisdiction of court- Jurisdiction over mining operations- Proper order to make when a court declines jurisdiction |
| ACTION:- Civil Action -Nature of proof Res judicata Land Declaration of title Injunction Defendant did not file pleadings Moved the court to dismiss the claims Trial court finding against defendant Appeal Judgment of trial court reversed – How treated | |
| ABIOLA V. IJOMA (HC |
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| ACTION:- Declaratory relief – The usage of. | |
| ABUBAKAR V. BEBEJI OIL AND ALLIED PRODUCTS LTD |
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| ABUKOGBO V. AFRICAN TIMBER AND PLYWOOD LTD. (CA) |
ACTION:- ACTION for damages for wrongful dismissal. |
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ACTION:- Misnormer – Meaning and nature of – Where the proper is not before the court – Nature of misnormer that can vitiate proceedings – How cured – Whether an application can be made to correct same – Evidence that both parties are ad idem as to the identity of the party suing- Effect – Duty of court thereto ACTION:- Competence to bring an action – Party bringing an action as a duly incorporated limited liability company – Whether needs to prove status through evidence of certificate of incorporation – Failure to do so – Whether can be cured by admission of the opposing party ACTION:- Right of action – Whether only maintainable by a legal or juristic person – Onus for proving status of a juristic person derived from incorporation – On whom lies – Whether a sine qua non for competency of the action – How proved – Whether only by the production of its certificate of incorporation – Whether an admission suffices |
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| ADEBAJO V. ADEBAJO (S.C.) |
ACTION:- Civil Action – whether counter-claim is necessary to entitle defence to an order pronouncing in favour of the Will. |
| ACTION:- PLEADINGS: Whether it is the plaintiff claims in the writ that determines whether or not a particular case comes within the jurisdiction of a Court | |
| ADEBUSUYI V. BABATUNDE ODUYOYE |
ACTION: – Justiciability – Electoral Matters – Candidacy of a person at an election – Whether justiciable – Relevant considerations ACTION: – Locus standi – Meaning of – How determined |
| ACTION for Mandatory Injunction | |
| ADEDIBU AND ANOTHER. V. OLOFA |
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ACTION:- Joinder of parties – Objectives – Whether the rule is not meant to clothe persons with right to sue in respect of claims in which they do not have a particular or special interest or where they have suffered no special damage ACTION – REPRESENTATIVE ACTION:- Order 13 rule 14, – What needs to be proved – Need for the persons being represented and the persons representing them to have the same interest in the cause or matter and for them to have must a common grievance ACTION:- Sending of letter or authority to Court after case is adjourned for judgment – Propriety – Whether accords with practice of the court – Restriction – Whether only authorities which relate to the submissions made in the course of argument can be admitted after adjournment for judgment |
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| ADEFARATI V. ADEFARATI(HC) |
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| ACTION:- Entering appearance thereto – How effected.
ACTION:- Issues for decision in a case – What constitute. |
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| ADEJUMO V. GOVERNOR OF LAGOS STATE |
ACTION:- Brief writing – Typographical error – Duty of Counsel and Judge to put right non consequential matters in order to bring case up to state of hearing and to proceed with hearing of case. |
| ADEKEYE AND ORS. V. AKIN-OLUGBADE |
ACTION:- Limitation of action – Whether applicable to trust action and property |
| ACTION:- Civil Action – Claim for declaration of title – Acts of possession as proof of ownership – Onus on plaintiff to prove continuous and unchallenged acts of possession covering sufficient period – Whether modified by section 145, Evidence Act | |
| ADELUSOLA V. AKINDE |
ACTION:- Claim of plaintiff – How ascertained. |
| ACTION – EVIDENCE:- Affidavit evidence – Pre-trial proceedings – Declaration of an intention to amend pleadings at trial– whether amounts to an amendment of the pleadings – need for court to hold parties to averments in their pleadings before the court | |
| ADENIJI V. THE PROBATE REGISTRAR |
ACTION:- Application for relief as an Executor. |
| ACTION:- Civil Action – Appellate court calling counsel for respondent to show cause why appeal should not he allowed – Effect of – Court non-suiting appellants without hearing arguments – Propriety. | |
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ACTION:- Cause of action – Trespass to land – Continuing trespass – When this may occur to give rise to cause of action |
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ACTION:- Service of writs – Fundamental nature of – Need for the Defendant to be served with the process so as to enable him appear in Court to defend the relief being sought against him ACTION – SERVICE OF WRITS:- Proof of service of writs – When Bailiff has sworn to the proof of service – Whether that is in law a compelling prima facie proof of Service of writ – How rebutted ACTION – SERVICE OF WRITS:- Service by substituted means – What constitutes proper execution of same – Pasting on last known address of defendant – When deemed effective |
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| ADESANOYE V. ADEWOLE |
ACTION:- Cause of action – Applicable law to a cause of action – need to connect properly |
| ACTION:- Action for injunction against interference with public right – Need vel non to join Attorney-General – Plaintiff suffering special damage | |
| ADESINA V. KOLA |
ACTION:- Action for money had and received – Nature of – When action lies therefor. ACTION:- Applicable law to a cause or matter – What determines. ACTION:- Commencement of action -Action for compensation -Compensation for land acquired under Public Lands Acquisition Law Cap. 105 Laws of Western State – When to institute. |
| ACTION:- Cause of action – Meaning and determination of
ACTION:- Reasonable cause of action – Determination of – Duty on court. |
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| ADESOKAN V. ADETUNJI |
ACTION:- Reasonable cause of action – Lack of’locus standi -Whether synonymous therewith. |
| ACTION:- Multiplicity of actions – Attitude of court. | |
| ADEWOYIN V. ADEYEYE |
ACTION:- Action Plaintiffs-Branch suing re family land allotted to it. |
| ACTION:- Civil Actions – Fatal Accident – Claims by wives and children – Marriage under Native Law and Custom – Marriage to be proved as a matter of fact – Children acknowledged by deceased – Whether illegitimate – Yoruba Customary Law. | |
| ADEYEMI V. ADEYEMI |
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| ACTION – COUNTER-CLAIM- whether a counter affidavit is an independent action-whether the failure of the plaintiffs’ claim affects the defendant’s counterclaim -need for counter-claim to be properly pleaded
ACTION – PLEADINGS: whether pleadings are regarded as evidence by itself – when can be deemed abandoned |
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ACTION:- Applicable law to cause or matter – What determines. ACTION:- Commencement of action – Action against public officer – When to file. ACTION:- Commencement of action – When action statutorily prescribed to commence within a particular period – Need to file action within the period – Where action not so filed – Effect. ACTION:- Competence of action – Preliminary objection challenging – What it postulates. ACTION:- Preliminary objection to an action on point of law – When to raise. ACTION:- Trial of an action – When it is unnecessary to take evidence. |
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| ACTION:- Action instituted in a representative capacity – whether failure of plaintiff to endorse on the writ that the writ is being taken out in a representative capacity invalidates the action. | |
| ADMINISTRATOR-GENERAL V. OLUBAMIWO |
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| ACTION:– Striking of suit – When proper – Abuse of court process – How inferred – Relevant considerations | |
| ADOLO OKOTIE-EBOH V. ALERO JADESIMI |
ACTION:– Locus standi – A defendant who contends that a plaintiff has no locus standi having regards to the facts pleaded by the plaintiff – When same would amount to admission of the truth of the averments on the Statements of Claim in relation to the locus standi of the plaintiff – Whether proof as to locus standi can be taken during consideration of an application for interim relief |
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| ADOMBA AND OTHERS V. ODIESE AND OTHERS |
ACTION – ESTOPPEL:- Whether a suit that was struck out and not tried could ground a defence of estoppel – Duty of party pleading estoppels to establish a nexus between subject matter of current litigation subject matter of a previous suit in which a competent and subsisting judgment was made – Effect of failure thereto |
| ACTION:- Account – Property let by alleged stranger and collecting rents thereon – Whether action for account lies. | |
| AFEAUGBO V. IGWE AND ORS |
ACTION – CIVIL ACTIONS – Appeals – Claim for declaration of title. |
| ACTION:- Representative actions – Nature of – Principles governing. | |
| AFRIBANK NIG. PLC. V. SYLVESTER ONYIMA |
ACTION:- Parties to an action – False imprisonment – Who can sue and be sued therefor: |
| ACTION: – Defences to defendant for libel or defamation –Din v. African Newspapers (1990) 3 NWLR (Pt. 139) 392 considered | |
| AFRICAN CONTINENTAL BANK LTD. V. ALHAJI UMARU GWAGWADA |
ACTION:- Pleadings: Rules of pleadings ACTION – PLEADINGS: Whether when a party wants to rely on an admission as an estoppel, its pleading will be relevant ACTION – PLEADINGS: Whether an admission relied on as an estoppel must be pleaded |
| ACTION:- PLEADINGS: Guiding principle on pleadings | |
| A-G. FEDERATION V. ALKALI |
ACTION:- Civil Action – Hire purchase Agreement – Claim for money owed to Federal Government – Balance due and Hire Purchase agreements – Supreme Court Rules, 1961 Order 7 Rule 24 – Appeals (Civil) – To Supreme Court – Additional evidence – Circumstances for allowing none shown by applicant. |
| ACTION:- Commencement of action – Capacity in which action instituted – Importance of to claim – Onus on plaintiff to prove. | |
| AGBAHOWE V. OSAYIOBASA AND ANOR |
ACTION:- Action for Negligence – Treatment of |
| ACTION:- Title of the suit – Relevance – Whether can be amended on an oral application made by Counsel for the plaintiff in his closing address | |
| AGBASIERE V. OKONKWO |
ACTION:- Claim for account – Party spending in excess of amount collected on agreed enterprise – Whether to he ordered to give account of how money was spent. |
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AGBI V. OGBEH (CA) |
ACTION:– Originating summons – when filed without an affidavit – validity of. |
| AGBI V. OGBEH (SC) |
ACTION:- Duty of a Plaintiff to prove his case. |
| ACTION:- Preliminary objection – Where defendant is non-juristic person – Effect on action and motion to strike out defendant as party – How cured – | |
| AGHADIUNO V. ONUBOGU |
ACTION:- Discontinuance of action -When leave of court required therefor – When not required – Incidents of each – General guiding principles. |
| ACTION:- Claims – Alternative claim -Where main claim succeeds -How treated. | |
| AGINA V. AGINA |
ACTION – PRELIMINARY OBJECTION:- Preliminary objection raised by Respondent with no argument advanced in support of – Duty of court to ignore same – Whether such objection can however be cured if answered by a submission in the Appellant’s Reply Brief |
| AGUSTO V. DADA |
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| AILERU V. ADEMUOYE |
CIVIL ACTION – – Claim for declaration of title – Defendant with an equity in the land created by owner’s acquiescence – Appropriate order. |
| AIR VIA LIMITED V. ORIENTAL AIRLINES LIMITED |
ACTION:- Counter-claim – Meaning and nature of ACTION – Recovery of debt – Action therefor – Methods of answering thereto. |
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AIROE CONSTRUCTION & CIVIL ENGINEERING CO. LTD. V. THE UNIVERSITY OF BENIN |
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| AJADA V. OLAREWAJU |
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| AJAKAIYE V. IDEHAI |
ACTION:- Parties to an action – ‘Actio personalis moritur cum persona’ (A personal does not survive death) – Effect of maxim – When applicable – When not applicable. ACTION:- Parties to an action – Death of party to suit – Effect – When action subsists – When it does not. ACTION:- Representative action – Effect – Where named party dies – Whether action also dies – Option open to those represented. |
| ACTION:- Commencement of action – ‘And’ in order 2 rule 3, High Court of Lagos State (Civil Procedure) Rules – Whether disjunctive or conjunctive.
ACTION:- Commencement of action – Forms of- Order 2 rule 3, High Court of Lagos State (Civil Procedure) Rules – How construed. |
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| AJANI V. OKUSAGA |
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| AJAYI V. OMOROGBE |
ACTION:- Dismissal of suit for want of prosecution – Applicable principles. |
| AJAYI V. PABIEKUN |
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| ACTION:- Action in trespass – Who can maintain – What constitute.
ACTION:- Trespass and injunction – Claim therefor- Whether dependent on claim for declaration of title – Failure of claim for declaration of title – Whether automatically means failure of claim far trespass and injunction. |
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| AJIBONA V. KOLAWOLE |
ACTION:- Limitation law in land cases – How construed. ACTION:- Limitation law in land cases – Knowledge on part of plaintiff that defendant has taken possession of land – Whether a condition precedent to application of limitation law. |
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ACTION:- Service of writs – Fundamental nature of – Need for the Defendant to be served with the process so as to enable him appear in Court to defend the relief being sought against him ACTION – SERVICE OF WRITS:- Proof of service of writs – When Bailiff has sworn to the proof of service – Whether that is in law a compelling prima facie proof of Service of writ – How rebutted ACTION – SERVICE OF WRITS:- Service by substituted means – What constitutes proper execution of same – Pasting on last known address of defendant – When deemed effective ACTION – SERVICE OF WRITS:- Challenge of proper service of writ by substituted means on ground that it was secured through deception/fraud – Burden of proof – On whom lies – Duty on defendant to either prove by credible evidence alleged deception/fraud or apply to set it aside or even an appeal against the said order. ACTION – DEFAULT JUDGMENT:- Default judgment – Application to set aside on ground that there was no default upon which court could presume to grant same and that the said judgment was a nullity having been obtained in such a manner as to deny the Appellant fair hearing guaranteed under the constitution – What must be proved ACTION – UNCHALLENGED EVIDENCE:– Civil proceedings – Duty of court not to permit indolent or unwilling party to frustrate or depress a party who has genuine complaint – When entitles court to act on the unchallenged evidence before it from just one of the parties |
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| ACTION – CIVIL ACTION:- Nullity – Procedural defect not one extrinsic to the adjudication – Whether decision a nullity | |
| AKANDE V. ARAOYE |
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ACTION:- Service of writs – Leave to appeal from interlocutory decision of High Court – Where Writ of Summons and Statement of Claim intended for a defendant is served on wrong party – Where defendant enters conditional appearance – Whether amounts to waiver of right to service of writs – Application by wrongly served party, as an Intervener, to set aside service of Writ at instance of named defendant – Relevant considerations |
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| ACTION:– Declaration of title – proof of title to land – on whom lies the burden of proof.
ACTION:– Declaration of title – ingredients necessary for same. |
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| AKERELE V. ATUNRASE |
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| ACTION: Withdrawal of action – Effect on subsequent action. | |
| AKHIWU V. THE PRINCIPAL LOTTERIES OFFICER MID-WESTERN STATE AND ANOTHER |
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| ACTION:- Dismissal of action for want of prosecution – failure of Judge to refer to order 37 rule 8 of Rivers State High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules 1987 – whether affects the validity of court order. | |
| AKIN ADEJUMO V. AYANTEGBE |
ACTION:- Void actions – Voidable actions – Distinction – Trial Court’s discretion -Interference with by Appellate Court. |
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JUDGMENTS OF NIGERIAN COURTS |
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| By Substantive Areas | |
