K. ESO, J.S.C. (Delivering the Leading Judgment): The action filed by the plaintiff (who is the appellant in this court, and, who hereinafter, will be referred to as the appellant), in the High Court of the Mid-Western State (now Bendel State) sitting at Warri, against the defendants (respondents in this court, and who hereafter, will be referred to as the respondents), is for the return of two new mebea trucks which the appellant surrendered to the respondent at their request for use as exhibits in an investigation of a charge of stealing made against the appellant, by one Palmer Sodje, or, in the alternative, the sum of N1,580, value of the said mebea trucks. The appellant also claimed N220 damages for the wrongful detention of the said mebea trucks.
Pleadings were ordered and duly filed and the parties led evidence. The case of the appellant was that he deposited N1,000 with Palmer Sodje, who traded under the style Star Enterprises, for the purchase of two cars. Palmer Sodje, whom …