CaseLaw
UTC (Nig.) Plc Vs. Maobiso Interlink & Asso (2003) CLR 1(q) (CA)
Judgement delivered on January 16th 2003
Brief
Facts
This is an appeal against the judgment of Ogbuagu J (as he then was) in the High Court of Abia State, sitting at Aba, delivered on 3rd November, 1999. The appeal arose out of a claim for N10, 000,000.00 special and general damages for breach of contract, filed in the trial court by the plaintiff/respondent as against the defendant/appellant.
The facts of the case are as follows: The plaintiff/respondent approached the defendant/appellant at a particular time for the purchase of Dorman Diesel Generating Set which the defendant/appellant agreed to sell to the respondent at an agreed sum. A receipt for the purchase, Exhibit A was issued in evidence of the transaction. The set was to be delivered within 4 days after the deposit of the full purchase price was made by the respondent.
According to the defendant/appellant, it later heard from its Lagos Headquarters that the last Dorman brand generating set had been sold. It then offered to sell to the respondent, a Perkins generating set of the same 500 KVA capacity but of a higher quality which the respondent was said to have agreed to buy, instead of the Dorman brand it initially sought to buy. That assertion was denied by the plaintiff's witness who said he never agreed to buy a Perkins brand.
In the meantime, the Perkins Generator had been delivered to the plaintiff's factory while it claimed to have written earlier per Exhibit B to terminate the agreement. The defendant/appellant however insisted that the chairman of the plaintiff (PW1), agreed to buy the Perkins brand and in fact was present when it arrived from Lagos. The chairman was alleged to have given the defendant a note to his engineer to take delivery of the set. All these the respondent denied and insisted that Exhibit B signed by him had already terminated the contract.
Judgment was given to the plaintiff by the trial court on 3rd November, 1999 as claimed by the plaintiff respondent in paragraphs (a), (b) & (c) of the statement of claim to wit the sum of N10, 000,000.00 with the items making up the N10, 000,000.00 specified with costs assessed at N5, 000.00 in its favour as against the defendant/appellant.
The defendant/appellant was in addition ordered to remove the items sold to the Plaintiff/respondent, that is, the Perkins 500 KVA generating set from the premises of the plaintiff/respondent forthwith but no later than 3 days of the court order. The lower court also awarded the plaintiff/respondent general damages of N2, 000,000.00 to serve as it claimed as a deterrent for any future misconduct in respect of the defendant/appellant dealings with their customers.
The defendant being dissatisfied with the court's decision appealed against same.