Between
AYODELE JAMES(Trading under the name and style of AJILEYE & SONS)
Appellant
AND
AYODELE JAMES(Trading under the name and style of AJILEYE & SONS) Appellant
AND
MID-MOTORS NIGERIA CO. LTD
Respondent
Before Their Lordships
GEORGE SODEINDE SOWEMIMO Justice of The Supreme Court of Nigeria
CHUKWUNWEIKE IDIGBE Justice of The Supreme Court of Nigeria
ANTHONY NNAEMEZIE ANIAGOLU Justice of The Supreme Court of Nigeria
Between
AYODELE JAMES(Trading under the name and style of AJILEYE & SONS) Appellant
AND
MID-MOTORS NIGERIA CO. LTD Respondent
…………………….A…………………….
A. N. ANIAGOLU, J.S.C. (Delivering the Leading Judgment): The plaintiff (hereinafter called “the appellant”) has appealed from the judgment of the High Court of the Benin Judicial Division holden at Benin dismissing his claim for 15,000 pounds for fraudulent misrepresentation, against the defendants (hereinafter referred to as “the respondents”), a claim instituted by him in 1971 in the Benin High Court of the then Mid-Western State of Nigeria. While the appellant has contended, upon the grounds of appeal filed, that having regard to the evidence adduced on either side before the trial court the learned trial Judge was wrong in dismissing his case, the respondents have urged on us to affirm the judgment and dismiss the appellant’s case but upon grounds other than those relied on by the court, their contention being that the appellant had failed to prove his case in accordance with his pleadings and deserved to have his case dismissed at the close of his case; that the learned trial Judge needed not to have gone into a determination of the evidence adduced by the appellant since the evidence was not in accord with his pleadings and should have been ignored. The issue in this appeal, therefore, strongly revolved around the validity of the respondents’ contention which emphasised the importance of pleadings in a civil action.
In the circumstances it is necessary to reproduce the statements of claim and defence filed by the parties. The Statement of Claim dated 15/10/71 and filed on 16/10/71 reads:
“STATEMENT OF CLAIM:
1. At all material times the plaintiff was a transporter carrying on business under the name and style of AJILEYE & SONS.
