Cases
By Sandra Umeh
Lagos, May 24, 2018 (NAN) Worried by the congestions in the Nigerian Courts, a Lagos-based Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr Uche Val-Obi, on Thursday, called for institution of “class actions” by litigants, as a means to reducing “traffic” in the courtrooms.
Val-Obi spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos, on the need for speedy administration of Justice, as well as the importance of fast tracking the justice system in Nigeria.
NAN reports that a class action is a legal proceeding in which one or several plaintiffs bring suit on behalf of a group.
The judgment or settlement agreed to arising from the suit covers all members of the group or class.
“Class action” is a form of suit in which a large group of people collectively bring a claim to court, or in which a class of defendants are being sued.
It is a procedure, which allows for mass redress, over a wrong that must have affected a large segment of the community or population.
The silk is a former council member of the Nigerian Bar Association Section on Business Law, (NBA-SBL).
He said that at present, there were no set rules of court on class action, which rules are instructive in reducing courts congestion.
He said: “There is need for the Judiciary to take a cursory look at this peculiar aspect of “class action”, and put in place, robust set of rules as a matter of emergency, so as to help enhance the Nigerian legal system.
“Now that we do not have such rules in place, everyone depends on filing individual suits, and this creates a situation where we have hundreds and thousands of cases on an issue that could easily be addressed by representative action.
“Following the need to promote class action in Nigeria, I have written a book titled “Class Action in Nigeria” which will be launched during the maiden edition of my Public Lecture series themed “Contemporary Corporate Governance issues in Nigeria”.
According to him, class action aids the court in streamlining issues and avoid being in a difficult position of giving conflicting decisions, on a subject matter in which one judgment would emerge, if it were a representative action.
“It saves cost as you do not need to pay for filing hundreds of law suits, and can also use one witness in establishing a particular case instead of calling hundreds of witnesses”.
He said that anyone could bring a class action once there was a wrong which affects quite a number of people.
“For instance, in power supply, where there is excessive electricity billing, then a representative action can be instituted against the service providers,” he said.
Val-Obi, said that class action should be “consciously promoted” as a way of seeking mass redress in Nigeria, because of the enormous advantages that can be derived from its mechanism. (NAN)
UNS/ENN/SH
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edited by Edwin Nwachukwu/Sadiya Hamza