SUPER CERAMICS MANUFACTURERS LTD v. H.E.P. ENGINEERING NIGERIA LIMITED
SUPREME COURT
(NGWUTA; ARIWOOLA; MUHAMMAD; OKORO; ABBA-AJI, JJ.SC)
Sometime in 1998, H.E.P. Engineering Nigeria Limited (the Respondent), a construction firm, agreed with Super Ceramics Manufacturers Ltd (the Appellant) to hire the latter's excavator and payloader. The agreement was later reviewed by the Appellant's letter which was accepted by the Respondent through its reply. These two documents form the bedrock upon which the contract between the parties was made. In accordance with the custom of the construction industries, the parties had right from the onset in 1998 adopted the policy of keeping the hired machineries after each day's work in a secured fenced yard. The Respondent's security personnel guarded the storage or packing yard. The Appellant’s machineries hired by the Respondent were controlled and operated by operators/drivers employed by the Appellant who were responsible for ensuring that such machineries or equipments were packed in the secured yard provided by the respondent after each day's work and when the equipments were not in use. On 11/5/1993, the Appellant's excavator hired by the Respondent was damaged by rioters at the Respondent's Dolphin Estate site in Ikoyi and the operator was one Johnson Egwu, an employee of the Appellant, who parked it outside the fenced parking yard provided by the Respondent for parking of the hired machineries. The dispute on who was liable led to the institution of a suit by the Appellant against the Respondent, who flled a final amended statement of defence and counterclaim. After the trial, the trial court gave judgment in favour of the Appellant against the Respondent while the Respondent's counterclaim was dismissed. The Respondent aggrieved, appealed to the Court of Appeal (lower Court), which
allowed the appeal and set aside the trial court's judgment.
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 Case Digest January 26.pdf | 303.07 KB |