This is definitely not the best of
time for embattled airline company, Aero Contractors.
A businessman, Mr Amaechi Onwumba,
on Wednesday (today) brought a case against Aero Contractors Airline over
alleged negligence, before Justice Okon of a Federal High Court, in Lagos.
The plaintiff had filed the suit
through his counsel, Mr. John Duru, on October 17, 2012, claiming the sum of
N13.7 million as general damages for injuries he sustained aboard the
defendant’s airline.
The
suit is coming up for the first time before Justice Abang, following the
retirement of the initial trial Judge, Justice Barbara Molokwu.
When the case was mentioned on Wednesday,
Duru urged the court to enter a default judgment in favour of his client,
adding that the defendant had been indifferent to the suit, since it was
instituted.
He told the court that since the
filing of the suit in 2012, the defendant had yet to take steps in regularising
its position.
According to him, it only entered
appearance on November 15, one year after the plaintiff filed the suit.
Duru argued that in spite of the
failure of the defendant to file its defence and enter appearance within time,
they still failed to file their counter affidavit till date, or seek an
extension of time to do so.
He also told the court that on
September 20, he served a motion for summary judgment on the defence, but they
have also failed to respond to same.
Duru, therefore, prayed the court to
enter judgement in favour of the plaintiff, who he argued, had suffered severe
hardship from the negligence of the defendant.
In a considered ruling, Justice
Abang noted that since the case was coming up for the first time before his
court, he would avail the defence an opportunity to present its own side of the
case.
Abang adjourned the case till
January 10, 2014, for hearing, and awarded a cost of N5,000 against the
defence, represented by Mrs Yemi Oshikoya, for undue delay.
In the statement of claim, the
plaintiff averred that he boarded the defendant’s airline on October 24, 2010,
on a business trip from Port Harcourt to Lagos.
“As the plane approached the Murtala
Mohammed airport, there was a loud piercing sound as if a violent rapture of
its engine had occurred.
“In the course of landing, the
aircraft shook vigorously and violently crashed to the ground, as a result of
which I sustained several injuries’’ he said.
The plaintiff said the entire plane
was engulfed in thick black smoke, adding that throughout the period of this
tension, none of the cabin crew was seen, and no assistance came forth.
He said he eventually managed to
struggle out of the ill-fated aircraft, with severe bruises on his body, while
his ligaments were disjointed.
He is, therefore, claiming the sum
of N13 million as general and exemplary damages for loss of his personal
effects and cost of filing the suit.
The plaintiff also claims the sum of
N655,700 as damages for hospital bills.
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