By Lucky Isibor,
An Ore High Court sitting in Ondo State and presided over by Honourable Justice Adegboyega Adebusoye has fixed March 30, for ruling on a motion for application for summary judgement in suit number HOR/17/2019 instituted by MOL Quarry and Construction Company Ltd. against Don Frat Jercess Construction Company Ltd for breach of agreement.
MOL Quarry and Construction Company Ltd, the Claimant/Applicant is claiming the sum of N40,000,000 (Forty Million Naira) being the balance sum the Defendant (Don Frat Jercess) is owing the Claimant for the sale of its quarry to the Defendant.
The Claimant avers in the suit that the Defendant has failed and neglected to pay the balance sum thereby breaching the milestone payment arrangement contained in the supplementary agreement between the two parties.
The Claimant is claiming from the Defendant the sum of Forty Million Naira being balance sum for the sale of its quarry to the Defendant and 21% interest per annum on the balance sum from the date the debt became due as contained in the supplementary agreement, due and paid to date. The Claimant is also making a claim of post judgement interest of 10%.
Reacting to the adjournment for ruling made by the Honorable presiding Judge, counsel to the Claimant, Sunny Agwinede Esq speaking to news men in Benin City yesterday, said he decided to bring the motion for application for summary judgment because the Defendant’s defence in his opinion were sham, delay tactics and filibustering to deprive the claimant out of his money.
According to Agwinede, “Our own contention is that the Defendant, Don Frat Jercess Construction Company Ltd sent their technical experts to examine the state of the quarry and after their examination and due negotiation, the price of Two Hundred Million Naira was agreed. They made a payment of One Hundred and Sixty Million Naira and when we now asked them to pay the balance of Forty Million Naira, they were now saying no; that they have done some repairs, that they didn’t know they were going to do a lot of repairs to the quarry.
“We said no, if that’s your defence, then you have no defence; that whoever buys a second hand goods must improve on it. The Supreme Court in the case of Agbajor against Leventis Motors says that if a buyer of second hand goods now go ahead and make improvement on that goods it does not pass the cost to the seller because the improvement is for further benefit of the buyer.
“In this case the only defence they have is that the Forty Million Naira they ought to pay was for the further improvement on the quarry. We said no, the improvement you made is for your improvement of the quarry.
“The Court have adjoined ruling to look at the cases we cited, whether they have a defence or not. If they have a defence the Court will order full trial, but if the Court now finds and agrees with us that the defence of the Defendant is a sham defence, not a defence on the merit, they will give us summary judgment and order them to pay us the final forty Million Naira”, the Claimant’s counsel. said.
