The respondent as plaintiff in the court below sued the appellant company for certain moneys for which her account with them had been wrongfully debited. After entering an appearance, the appellants did not file any statements of defence and the respondent sought accordingly, to obtain a judgment in default.

On the day the judgment was to have been given, the appellant brought a motion on notice, seeking to join a 3rd party. After hearing the motion for leave to issue a 3rd party notice first, the trial court adjourned the Motion for Judgement in default of defence. The respondent appealed against this ruling and got judgment at the Court of Appeal.

The appellants then appealed to the Supreme Court The pith of the case for the appellant was that the Court of Appeal had placed an erroneous interpretation on Order 13 r22 of the High Court of Lagos State (Civil Procedure) Rules, 1972, and the view which the Court of Appeal had taken was to the effect that the Appellants proposed statement of defence as exhibited at that Court, disclosed no bonafide defence, and that the award of damages by that court was arbitrary and not based on any principle of law. It became clear however, towards the conclusion of arguments on both sides, in the Supreme Court, that the issues between the parties had been settled, and the grounds of appeal were devoted substantially to the third party proceedings, for in it, the appellants were seeking to establish a right of indemnity against the 3rd party who as their employee had committed various acts of stealing and forgery which led to the substantive suit, for the judgement sum. The appeal was therefore contested purely on the third party proceedings and on the construction of Or. 13 R 22 High Court of Lagos State (Civil Procedure) Rules.