
August 3, 2016
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- Law News, Nigeria News
Aniere Ebuzoeme; a Solicitors’ Advocate at the Vincent Solicitors of England and Wales is a British / Nigerian, a UK based Solicitor Advocate specializing in Criminal Law, Civil, Family, Employment and other areas of UK laws and procedures. In a chance encounter with WILLIAMS ORJI, he gave an insight into why he dragged the Arik Air to court. Excerpts.
Recently, it was reported that you dragged the Arik Air, a major international flight company to court and even obtained a judgment against it. What was the main push for this action?
First of all, let me explain this; when one spends so much money booking a ticket to fly from one destination into another and return back to the originating destination, the expectation is a minimal or no fault flight. This is called reservation subject to the carrier’s terms and conditions. There are Regulations and Conventions that these Airlines are subject to; to ensure that they are compliant with terms and conditions of carriage, ensure good service delivery, not compromise passengers’ safety, and avoid harm to passengers and or airlines users.
Airlines within the European Union; what I will call Euro zone are governed by EU Denied Boarding Regulations 261/2004, other Airlines outside Euro zone such as Arik Air, are governed by the Warsaw Convention, as amended in 1955/6 including the Montreal Convention. In the UK, Section 10 of the Carriage Act incorporated the Convention as well. A Claimant would obviously rely on breach of contract in addition to these other regulations and conventions where applicable to pursue his or her matters. There are other domestic laws one can rely upon, but space will not allow me now to dell clearly on them. So what happened was that I booked a return ticket London-Lagos and Asaba, and returning with the same route with Arik Air sometime on 2/5/ 2015. The out-bound flight was satisfactory, save for the poor appalling service on board the flight. This is exemplified by the food and drinks served on April 1, 2015. It was a disappointing experience.
Was this the only reason you took Arik Air to court?
No, leaving the abysmal service received during the out-bound journey, my main reason was the nightmare I suffered in the hands of Arik Air which began with my return journey. My flight scheduled to fly on 1/5/2015 from Asaba to Lagos was just cancelled without notice despite the Airline having my email address and phone number through their agents. I inconvenienced myself, traveling by the bad road to Lagos that night lodging in a hotel for my return flight the next day being the 2/5/2015.
I left my hotel in Lagos early on 2/5/2015 and took a taxi to the Murtala Muhammed Airport, on reaching the airport the flight was cancelled, again without notice. The Arik Air staff were very unhelpful in terms of providing proper professional information why we were not pre-warned of the cancellation or what were reasons for the cancellation. It is worthy to note that most of us the passengers were from outside Lagos; what were the arrangements for food, accommodation, fare and so on such as the staff could at least take our phone numbers to keep us updated on the developments. These searching queries were met with absolute no answers or even recourse to potential answers on till later date in time.
You mean that the Arik Air management could not give you detailed explanations on reasons for cancelling the flight and how to ameliorate the situation?
None at all! We were left at our perils, and given that I ran out of Naira it was challenging. Ironically, though Arik Air later asserted “Aviation fuel” as its reason for cancellation, Air France, Virgin Airline, Turkeys or Turkish Airlines were flying passengers in and out of Nigeria on that day and beyond. The cancellation and the abysmal treatments were so significant that I vowed to do something about it.
You were not the only passenger affected by this shabby treatment by Arik Air that day, so why are you most pained?
Certainly I was not. I retained the contact numbers of two passengers, following our return from Nigeria to the UK. I informed them of my intention to file a claim against Arik Air, and that we should bring a class action. One of them told me later that he had taken legal advice and was advised that there were no arguable claim. This is rubbish. Arrant nonsense! This is how some of us live in abject ignorance by seeking unsound legal advice and having our rights infringed upon. I insisted on not tolerating such an abominable and monstrous behavior from Arik Air. I pursued justice myself.
By how; what did you do next?
I instituted legal proceedings against Arik Air. The question should be how does an aggrieved passenger make, seek relief for this extremely lack of delivery or competency and satisfactory services by Arik Air? I first sent them a letter with a schedule of my losses, leaving aside the unreasonable delay before they responded. Unfortunately, the reply from this Airline Company was condescending and showed utter lack of insight in what I went through. I had no money, my wife had to send me monies for hotel accommodation, food and transport fare until next available flight on 5/5/2015. In addition, I ran out of my medication which I was dependent upon and had to make do with over the counter prescription, including loss of earnings as I could not return back to work. So after a protocol letter, I filed and served Arik Air with a claim form.
Throughout the proceedings, it was incompetency all the way through with (a). Arik Air’s failure to file a properly pleaded defence; (b). When ordered to file a defence with interim costs order awarded against them, a weak defence was filed in 2016 without written evidence they relied upon, save for their terms and conditions of carriage which I sought disclosure of in May 2015. The company’s pleadings as presented, to say the least, colloquial speaking “a messed up defence”.
And what was the outcome of this shallow appearance by Arik Air?
Arik Air was found liable under the Warsaw Convention for failing to take any measure whatsoever to put me on another flight or provide accommodation for me and my other needs. The damages awarded were minimal in contrast to the value of my claim but it was not a hallow victory.
Were you satisfied with the judgment?
First, I did not set out in search of a selfish course but to pass the message that Nigerians or passengers whatsoever should not be made to accept poor, inadequate service delivery as a norm. Being a Nigerian, or because we are Africans is not a rational excuse to accept those poor services or be content that poor services is synonymous with Nigerian industries. We have to stand up and be counted against poor services from Nigerian service providers such as the financial sectors, to say the least. Customers must know their rights and go for their rights. Justice may be slow but when certainly it comes, it comes with satisfaction.
Where was this matter treated; in the UK or Nigeria?
It was in the UK; Ebuzoeme vs Arik Air at the Lambeth County Court on 24/6/2016, Claim number B1QZ1M97. Now, you must have heard the saying that where there is wrong or unlawful act, there must be legal remedy or relief. Let me add that the appalling behavior of Arik Air continued even after the trial in that they now want to offer or get me to sign a compromised agreement. Is it not an outrage or utter display of lack of knowledge of UK law and procedures, that in a claim where liability was found against Arik Air, Arik Air now wants to settle the case or offer terms of settlement? This is an absurdity of Arik Air cause célèbre and their unsatisfactory behaviours, which must stop forthwith. Passengers must insist on their rights. Nigerians must insist on getting equivalents of their payments, anywhere any time. That is the message I set out to pass to encourage fellow Nigerians that thought the challenges may present a “David and Goliath” situation but the breach is actionable in a court of any competent jurisdiction including Nigerian courts.
Culled from Thenigerialawyer