OPUTA, J.S.C.: (Delivering the Leading Judgment): The facts of this case do not appear to be very much in dispute. The Defendants before the trial Court - Niger Construction Ltd. - were a Construction Company. During their construction of the Eku-Effurun Road the Defendant/Company dug up a considerable quantity of laterite from the farm lands belonging to the Plaintiff as well as to other land owners. In that exercise several rubber trees as well as other economic trees like pepper fruit trees were uprooted. The Defendant/ Company's excavation resulted into a burrow pit which rendered the land useless for farming purposes. When negotiations for the payment of compensation failed the Plaintiff took out a Writ of Summons claiming:-
1. N44,920.00 (Forty-four thousand, nine hundred and twenty Naira) as reasonable compensation for the Plaintiff's rubber trees on the said parcel of land which the Defendants converted into a burrow pit."
In his Amended Statement of Claim the Plaintiff claime…