BY Uzor Odigbo
The Appeal Court sitting in Lagos on Tuesday upheld the verdict of the Federal High Court, Ikoyi in the case between the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) and Seaport Terminal Operators Association of Nigeria (STOAN) over arbitrary shipping charges allegedly amounting to N7 trillion.
The appeal which lasted over one year has affirmed the judgement of the lower court, saying that the submission of the terminal operators lacked merit, even as it was termed to be a mere academic work.
The counter claim of the second respondent was also upheld, saying the Shippers Association of Lagos State had the locus standi to join force with Shippers’ council in the case.
Delivering the judgment, Justice Chidi Uwa maintained that the appellant failed to establish its case in legal rights which according to her, was a mere hypothetical reasons. She however said :”I hereby dismiss the appeal and uphold the decision of the lower court.”
Recall that Justice Ibrahim Buba of the Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi Lagos in 2014 ruled in favour of the Nigerian Shippers Council over arbitrary and storage charges even as he directed the terminal operators to return to status quo as regards charges.
Meanwhile, lawyer to SALS, Osuala Nwagbara told journalists shortly after the judgment, that appeal upheld the verdict of the Federal High Court, saying that the appellant claims has been dismissed.
According to him, there were many grounds of the appeal by the appellant.
“And therefore we also rightly put counter claim and so the counter claim was upheld here just like the lower court upheld it. Also this appeal was dismissed and parties were asked to bear their own cost of the appeal”
“What I have given is the summary of the judgement there were many grounds of the appeal. In fact I think they had up to 17-18 grounds of the appeal and normally issues are a summary of the content of the grounds which should be reduced to a manageable level.
“One may file 18grounds of appeal and the issues formulated may be reduced to 5-6 grounds. I can’t recall exactly how many issues that formulated those grounds. And on our own side we compressed the entire issues for determination by the court into two”
“Our two issues were one whether the lower court was right in joining SALS to the originating summons.
“Secondly whether the court in upholding our claim and these we believe answered all the issues that are before this court as far as SALS is concerned. Shippers Council also had issues which they have formulated that touched on their status as the economic regulator.”
He added that the status quo from the ruling of the lower court stands, and that the appellants failed in their quest to quash the earlier decision of the Federal High Court.
