Out of court settlement has broken down in a case between two firms over supply of chemicals and alleged failure to pay. Now Eunisell Limited goes ahead demanding for the winding up of Port Harcourt based Geo Fuids Limited owned by Alali Ibanibo.
The parties had taken two adjournments to resolve a case of owing $265,492 for supply of several drums of chemicals to Geo Fluids by Eunisells as far back as 2010. The case came to court in 2012.
The amount by 2010 when the supply was made was about N50m @ N185 per Dollar, and now about N96.1m @ N362 per Dollar.
Statement of claim by Eunisell in an affidavit said Geo Fluids requested for the chemicals and they were supplied through two invoices. Eunisell, in its petition, said several demands for payment failed until the company went to the federal high court in 2012.
The counter claim by Geo Fluids said the chemicals were not original. In another paragraph, Geo Fluids said they had made several payments to offset the debts. The case was last mentioned on September 23, 2017 and was fixed for December 12, 2017, for hearing. The Petitioner has Sam Agweh as lead counsel while the defence is by Salome Johnson. The Justice is Bilikisu Aliyu.
The suit has a motion seeking the advertisement for the winding up. The motion was to be heard on Tuesday, December 12, 2017, but due to latest developments, the moving of the motion was shifted to January 29, 2018. The motion also contained clauses that accused the defendant company of obtaining the chemicals without intention to pay and using the chemicals without paying, something that they said bordered on fraud.
The Petitioner’s lawyer, Simon Amadoubogha, leading Uche Kalu, told the court that it came to move the motion calling for winding up because the plan for settlement did not work out after all, it broke down. The court had given more time for settlement but it did not work out. The motion was sworn to on June 15, 2017 and filed in court on July 3, 2017.
The defence said they filed a counter motion and that they were ready in court for the case to continue.
The justice ordered the case to proceed and for the Petitioner to move his motion. His lawyer now asked for adjournment on ground that a N5m cheque for part payment they had wanted to return to the defendant could only be returned this morning in court. In view of this latest development, the Petitioner needed time to adjust the records and move the motion.
The defence did not object and the Justice gave January 29, 2018 for the case to proceed.
In an interview outside the court, Amadus said his client was right to seek liquidation of Geo Fluids on grounds of inability or failure to pay. He said the defending company neither returned the chemicals if they were not good nor notified the supplier.
On her own, the defence lawyer, Johnson, said the Petitioner did not do proper research to know if Geo Fluids was viable and capable to pay its obligations or not. She said what was at stake was a mere dispute over payment for supplies.
Both parties seem to be ready for a legal showdown and the Justice seems to clear all obstacles to pave way for the clash to begin.
Ignatius Chukwu
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