Facts of the Case
The plaintiff/respondents brought an action against the defendant/appellants for a declaration of title to land being and situate at and known as Nos. 150-152, Jemi Alade layout, Idi-Araba, possession of the said land, damages for trespass to the land and an injunction against further acts of trespass. Before the order for pleadings was applied for or made, the plaintiffs filed a motion asking for an interim injunction restraining the defendant his servants and/or agents from further trespassing on plot Nos. 150 and 152, Jemi Alade layout, Idi-Araba, Ikeja District, Lagos State, property of the plaintiffs pending the final determination of this suit.
Issue
Whether the Trial court erred in law in granting an interim injunction.
Ratio Decidendi
What does an application for an interim injunction postulate?: “Evidently an application for an interim injunction postulates that the applicant has a right, the violation of which he seeks to prevent and in order to do so effectively to ensure at that stage of the proceedings that the subject-matter of the right be maintained in status quo.” Per Coker, J.S.C
Principles on which the court can grant an interim injunction: Where the plaintiffs do make out a probable case for ultimate relief, or where the evidence leaves this so much in doubt that the court must see there is a serious question of difficulty to try, then this matter of convenience becomes of paramount importance.
Resisting an Interim Injunction: A person resisting the application for an interim injunction could either deny the right itself or only deny the breach of it or indeed deny both the right and the breach of it.
The learned trial judge then adverted to the submissions of learned counsel for the defendant that the application must fail in as much as the plaintiffs had not exhibited to their affidavit a copy of the deed of conveyance in virtue of which they are claiming. The Court of Appeal also dismissed case. Upon appeal to the Supreme Court, the court held if these principles were rightly applied to the facts of this case, the only conclusion would be that the application herein was properly made and granted. Therefore the appeal fails and it is dismissed.
By: Resolution Law Firm
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