JOSEPH OLUBUNMI KAYODE OYEWOLE, J.S.C. (Delivering the Lead Judgment): The Appellant as Plaintiff, initiated an action against the Respondent as Defendant at the Ikeja Division of the High Court of Lagos State on the 29th June, 1999.
The antecedent facts are quite straightforward. Appellant operated haulage services for the Respondent with its trucks, six in number. Things went on smoothly between them until sometimes in September, 1998 when 720 crates of empty Guinness small stout bottles, contracted by the Respondent to the Appellant, to be moved from the Respondent's warehouse in Ogba to its Ikeja warehouse, both in Lagos, were stolen by the drivers of the Appellant, ostensibly aided by some members of staff of the Respondent. The Appellant's Managing Director reported the incident to the Police, arrests were made and identified culprits were subsequently charged to Court.
The Appellant's case at trial was that based on this incident, the Respondent impounded its six trucks in its pr…