*The four man panel of the Supreme Court says judgment was made in error arising from its Registrar’s failure to properly brief it of the appellant’s filling.
*This major upset means GTB and Innoson Motors’ boss Innocent Chukwuma are back in the ring to slug out claims made by both party.
Guaranty Trust Bank on Friday secured a major upset against Innoson Motors Nigeria Limited in the legal tussle both parties have been embroiled in for some years now as the Supreme Court set aside its earlier ruling in which it dismissed Guaranty Trust Bank’s appeal against a N2.4 billion judgment in favour of Innoson Motors Nigeria Limited.
The Supreme Court ‘s judgment is based on the grounds that it was at the time wrongly dismissed. The court’s five man panel led by Justice Tijani Abubakar, but read by Justice Abdu Aboki, on Friday referred to Order 8 Rules 16 of its rule book in setting aside its earlier judgment.
According to the court, it claimed that it was misled by its Registry which failed to properly and promptly bring to the notice of the panel that the Bank had already filed its appellant brief on the case on February 27, 2019.
According to the judgment, the circumstances of the GTB case falls into the category of the rare cases where the Supreme Court could amend or alter its own order on the grounds that the said order or judgment did not present what it intended to record.
“I am convinced that at the material time that the appellant’s appeal was inadvertently dismissed by this court, there was in place, a valid and subsisting brief of argument filed by the applicant.
“It will be unjust to visit the sin of the court’s Registry on an innocent, vigilant, proactive and diligent litigant.
“It is obvious from the material before us, that there were errors committed by the Registry of this court, having failed to bring to the notice of the panel of Justices that sat in chambers on February 27, 2019 that the appellant had indeed filed its brief of argument. This is a case deserving of positive consideration by this court.
“Having gone through all the materials in this application therefore, I am satisfied that the appellant/applicant’s brief of argument was filed before the order of this court made on February 27, 2019 dismissing the applicant’s appeal.
“The order dismissing the appeal was therefore made in error. It ought not to have been made if all materials were disclosed. The application is therefore, meritorious and hereby succeeds,” the apex court held.
Justice Abdu Aboki thereby proceeded to set aside the apex court’s ruling of February 27, 2019 wherein GTB’s appeal was dismissed and thereafter ordered that the appeal marked 694/2014 “be relisted to constitute an integral part of the business of this court until its hearing and determination on the merit.”
What This Means For GTB Vs Innoson Motors
This latest developemnt means that the judgment in which the bank was ordered to pay the sum of N2.4 billion to Innoson Motors will now be re-tried and this means the case could still go either way
Innoson Motor’s boss Innocent Chukwuma had previously said he was waiting to take over the bank as the bank may eventually not be able to pay back the huge sum it was ordered to pay back to him. With this latest development however, both parties are back in the law court and it remains to be seen what the eventual outcome will be.
