[2012]DLCA8670 • March 22, 2012 • Court of Appeal
CENTRE FOR PUBLIC INTEREST LAW (CEPIL) FACOL CONSTRUCTION vs. TEMA OIL REFINERY
The plaintiffs sued the defendant for polluting the Chemu Lagoon through continuous dumping and spillage of hydrocarbon substances, allegedly causing environmental degradation, death of aquatic life, and socio-economic harm to local inhabitants. The defendant denied negligence and any significant spillage, except an inadvertent admission in paragraph 5 of their defense acknowledging occasional, insignificant spills.
read moreOFOE, J.A: The main consideration in this appeal is whether the trail judge’s refusal to grant the defendant’s application for leave to amend was a proper exercise of discretion. We would continue to refer to the parties as plaintiff and defendant as they were at the trial court. A summary of the case between the parties should serve a useful background to understanding this ruling. The plaintiff has sued the defendant for polluting the Chemu Lagoon by its continuous damping and spillage of hydro carbon substances into this lagoon. This act according to the plaintiff is causing the virtual death of life in the said lagoon. Not only has this contamination, which the plaintiffs consider a negligent act of the defendant, affected the rights of the people around this lagoon to a clean and healthy environment but also fishery, bird life and other wild life is running towards stagnation. Indeed the allegation continues that the socio- economic life of the inhabitants around the Lagoon ...