THE EFFECT OF A LIMITATION LAW ON A CAUSE OF ACTION

CASE TITLE: SHAUKAT AND RAZA (PTY) LTD v. GOVT OF GOMBE STATE & ANOR (2021) LPELR-55265(CA)

JUDGMENT DATE: 4^TH AUGUST, 2021

PRACTICE AREA: LIMITATION LAW

LEAD JUDGMENT: EBIOWEI TOBI, J.C.A.

SUMMARY OF JUDGMENT:

INTRODUCTION

This appeal borders on Limitation of Action under the Law of Contract.

FACTS

This is an appeal against the decision of the High Court of Gombe State.

The Appellant, Shaukat and Raza (Pty) Ltd and 2nd Respondent, Gombe State Water Corporation entered into an agreement on 5/2/2001 for the construction of the Gombe Regional Water Supply Scheme in Gombe State. The Appellant was mobilized to the site with the sum of N1,700,000,000.00. The project could not be completed and so the contract was mutually terminated on 30/12/2002 for lack of funds. It is the case of the Appellant that on 20/11/2003, a settlement agreement was executed by it and the 2nd Respondent for the Appellant to be paid US$6,668,614 less N117,731,458.00 with the assurance that no further contract will be awarded on the project to any other company until the Appellant is paid. The Respondents’ inability to honour the settlement agreement necessitated the action at the trial Court. The Appellant sought for various orders including specific performance, the sum of US$4,967,587 outstanding sum from the settlement reached by both parties, US$25,189 being expenses incurred for an attempt to recover the sum owed it, US$100,000 for damages and US$350,254 as solicitor’s fee. Interest was also claimed for the outstanding debt owed to the Appellant. The Respondents challenged the suit for incompetence on grounds of it being statute barred and that the Appellant had no legal capacity to sue, not been a company registered in Nigeria. The trial Court held that the claim was statute-barred and it was accordingly dismissed.

Being dissatisfied with the decision of the trial Court, the Appellant appealed to the Court of Appeal.

ISSUES FOR DETERMINATION

The Court determined the appeal based on the following issues for determination:

1. Whether the learned trial judge was not right when he held that the claim of the Appellant is statute-barred having exceeded the statutory period of five (5) years within which to institute legal action as provided by Section 18 of Limitation Law of Bauchi State, 1991 applicable to Gombe State by Adoption Law No.1 of 1996.

2. Whether the certificate of identification of Mr. Abdul Samee in compliance with Section 84 (1), (2) and (4) of the Evidence Act, 2011 tendered in respect of email correspondence between the Appellant and officers of the Respondents which were part of Exhibit 8 relate to only correspondence from the Foreign Minister’s Office, Islamabad to the Pakistan High Commissioner, Abuja and therefore irrelevant making the Court to hold that the said emails were not admissible and thus were expunged?

DECISION/HELD

In the final analysis, the Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal. The judgment of Sa’ad Mohammed J., of the Gombe State High Court in suit No. GM/368/2016 was affirmed.

RATIOS:

• ACTION – STATUTE BARRED ACTION: Effect of a statute barred action
• ACTION – STATUTE BARRED ACTION: How to determine whether an action is statute barred
• ACTION – CAUSE(S) OF ACTION: When does cause of action accrue and when does limitation period begin to run
• EVIDENCE – ADMISSIBILITY OF ELECTRONIC DOCUMENTS: Conditions for admissibility of computer-generated documents.