Legal Response Options Overview

Mr. John Ibe walks into your law office and narrates to you that he was in the business of supplying aluminum roofing sheets and other building materials to building contractors, so on the 20th of September, *, he was on his way to attend a business meeting with Almaco Industrial Services Limited for the conclusion of a business deal involving roofing sheets and building materials worthmillions of Naira. On that fateful day while driving his vehicle, a Black Toyota Hillux Pick-up Truck * Model with Engine Registration No: ABC *, and he was to pass through the Ikeja Express Road. Upon getting to the Ikeja Express Road he was unaware that Julius Berger Construction Company Limited, a construction company which was contracted by the Government of Lagos State to make repairs on the Ikeja Express Road, had poured a slippery black substance on the road later identified as bitumen as part of the repairs being carried out on the road. As a result of the said bitumen on the road, the road was slippery and as a result, Mr. John Ibe lost control of his car and the vehicle veered off the road resulting in a ghastly auto crash in which his vehicle was totally wrecked and damaged and numerous injuries were sustained by him and he was rushed to the hospital. Mr. John Ibe insists that there were no road signs along the road to warn any oncoming and ongoing vehicles of the slippery substance on the said road. He also said that upon inquiries after the said accident, it was observed that the natives and some road users, resident within the said environs of the auto crash scene had raised alarms on account of the manner in which the company poured the said bitumen, pointing out the obvious dangers that may result from it, but the company bluntly failed to listen to them and take any necessary action. He also found out that one of the witnesses to the car crash, Mr. Peter Okoro reported the crash to the Police, who accompanied him to the Construction Company’s Office at Ikeja, very close to the scene of the accident, and complained to the Project Manager and other Senior Staff about the incident, but regrettably, the said staff of the Company accompanied them to the scene but did nothing regarding the damage done to Mr. John Ibe and other affected persons except to pour sharp sand on the affected areas which was an afterthought. The Police then went ahead to write a report of the incident on the 23rd of August, * which was signed by one DSP Tunde Oche, the Divisional Police Officer attached to the Police Station in Ikeja. As a result of the accident, Mr. John Ibe lost out in the scheduled business meeting with Almaco Industrial Services Limited as he could not continue the journey to the business meeting as already scheduled: The damage of his vehicle made it such that he could no longer meet up with other business engagements and this seriously occasioned hardship on him and his family, coupled with the serious health damage as a result of the physical and mental injuries sustained in the auto crash and the hefty sums that were paid for treatment of the said injuries.

List and briefly explain the six (*) different options open to a defendant in responding to the statement of claim.

Discuss more about the statements above inclusive of Nigerian case laws and statutes