CASE DIGEST - Damages: General Damages; Is It Necessary For General Damages To Be Pleaded?

MT SEA PIONEER & ORS. v. OWOADE ADEYEYE

COURT OF APPEAL (NIGERIA)
(OTISI; SIRAJO; BANJOKO, JJ.CA)

Background Facts

Owoade Adeyeye (the Respondent), who was a commercial transporter with a Volkswagen space bus, was hired by Sea Transport Nig. Ltd. and Alhaji Aminu Umaru (the 2nd and 3rd Appellants), through the crew members of MT Sea Pioneer (the 1st Appellant) to convey C-Way bottle water from Ajori market to Waziri Jetty, Apapa, Lagos, where the 1st Appellant anchored. As he was moving the bottled water close to the 1st Appellant at the request of the crew members for his assistance, he alleged that an explosion caused by the breakage of the 1st Appellant's hose occurred, which hit and severely injured him. He further stated that the crew members on board the 1st Appellant, instead of rendering help to him, only threw down a stretcher to help move him away from the scene of the accident, and then hurriedly sailed out of the Jetty to avoid arrest, leaving the Respondent in pain and in the pool of his blood. He was rushed to the General Hospital, Apapa, but due to the severity of the injury, he was referred to the Lagos Island General Hospital, wherein an amputation of his right leg was recommended. Due to the high cost of the surgery at the hospital, he opted to go to a traditional Orthopedic home to receive treatment.