CROSS RIVER – TORTS LAW
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LAWS OF CROSS RIVER STATE
TORTS LAW
ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS
Contributory Negligence
CHAPTER T1
SECTION
- Apportionment of liability in case of contributory negligence.
Common Employment
- Common employment not a defence.
Liability of Tortfeasors
- Proceedings against, and contribution between joint and several tortfeasors.
- Interpretation.
- Short title.
CHAPTER T1
TORTS LAW
A Law to amend certain aspects of the Law relating to Torts.
(7th June, 1962)
[Commencement.]
Contributory Negligence
- Apportionment of liability in case of contributory negligence
(1) Subject to subsections (2) and (3), where a person suffers damage as the result, partly of his own fault and partly of the fault of another person, a claim in respect of that damage shall not be defeated by reason of the fault of the person suffering the damage, but the damages recoverable in respect thereof shall be reduced to such extent as the Court thinks just and equitable having regard to the share of the claimant in the responsibility for the damage.
(2) Subsection (1) shall not operate to defeat a defence arising under a contract.
(3) Where a contract or enactment providing for the limitation of liability is applicable to a claim, the amount of damages recoverable by the claimant by virtue of subsection (1) shall not exceed the maximum limit so applicable.
(4) Where damages are recoverable by a person by virtue of subsection (1) subject to such reduction as is therein mentioned, the Court shall find and record the total damages which would have been recoverable if the claimant had not been at fault.
(5) Where a person dies as a result partly of his own fault and partly of the fault of another person and, if death had not ensued, damages would have been recoverable by him by virtue of subsection (1) of an amount reduced in accordance with that subsection, any damages recoverable in the action brought for the benefit of the dependants of that person under the Fatal Accidents Law shall be reduced to a proportionate extent.
(6) Where, in any case to which subsection (1) applies, one of the persons at fault avoids liability to any other person or his personal representative by pleading any enactment limiting the time within which proceedings may be taken, he shall not be entitled to recover any damages or contributions from the other person or representative by virtue of the said subsection.
(7) Article 21 of the Convention contained in the First Annex to the First Schedule to the Carriage by Air (Colonies, Protectorates and Trust Territories), Order, 1953 (which empowers a court to exonerate wholly or partly a carrier who proves that the damage was caused by or contributed to by the negligence of the injured person) as applied by that Order or by the Carriage by Air (Non-international Carriage) (Colonies, Protectorates and Trust Territories) Order, 1953, shall have effect subject to this section.
(8) This section shall not apply to a claim to which section 1 of the Act of the United Kingdom known as the Maritime Conventions Act, 1911, applies and that Act shall have effect as if this Law had not been passed.
(9) This section shall not apply to a case where the act or omission giving right to the claim occurred before the passing of this Law.
Common Employment
- Common employment not a defence
(1) It shall not be a defence to an employer who is sued in respect of personal injuries caused by the negligence of a person employed by him that the person was at the time the injuries were caused in common employment with the person injured.
(2) Any provisions contained in a contract of service or apprenticeship or in an agreement collateral thereto (including a contract or agreement entered into before the commencement of this Law) shall be void in so far as it would have the effect of excluding or limiting any liability of the employer in respect of personal injuries caused to the person employed or apprenticed by the negligence of persons in common employment with him.
(3) In this section the expression “personal injuries” includes any disease and any impairment of a person’s physical or mental condition and the expression “injured” shall be construed accordingly.
Liability of Tortfeasors
- Proceedings against, and contribution between joint and several tortfeasors
(1) Where damage is suffered by a person as a result of a tort (whether crime or not)—
(a) judgment recovered against a tortfeasor liable in respect of that damage shall not be a bar to an action against any other person who would, if sued, have been liable as a joint tortfeasor in respect of the same damage;
(b) if more than one action is brought in respect of that damage by or on behalf of the person by whom it was suffered, or for the benefit of his estate, or of any dependant of that person, against tortfeasor liable in respect of the damages (whether as joint tortfeasors or otherwise) the sums recoverable under the judgments given in these actions by way of damages shall not in the aggregate exceed the amount of the damages awarded by the judgment first given; and in any of these actions, other than that in which judgment is given, the plaintiff shall not be entitled to costs unless the Court is of opinion that there was reasonable ground for bringing the action;
(c) a tortfeasor liable in respect of that damage may recover contribution from any other tortfeasor who is, or would if sued have been, liable in respect of the same damage, whether as a joint tortfeasor or otherwise, so, however, that no person shall be entitled to recover contribution under this section from a person entitled to be indemnified by him in respect of the liability in respect of which the contribution is sought.
(2) In any proceedings for contribution under this section the amount of contribution recoverable from a person shall be such as may be found by the Court to be just and equitable having regard to the extent of that person’s responsibility for the damage; and the Court shall have power to exempt a person from liability to make contribution, or to direct that the contribution to be recovered from a person shall amount to a complete indemnity.
(3) This section shall apply in any case where two or more persons are liable, or would, if they had all been sued, be liable by virtue of subsection (1) of section 3 in respect of the damage suffered by any person as it would apply if they had been so liable apart from that subsection.
(4) In this section the reference to “the judgment first given” shall in a case where the judgment is reversed on appeal, be construed as a reference to the judgment first given which is not so reversed and, in a case where a judgment is varied on appeal, be construed as a reference to that judgment as so varied.
(5) Nothing in this section shall—
(a) apply with respect to a tort committed before the commencement of this Law; or
(b) affect any criminal proceedings against a person in respect of a wrongful act; or
(c) render enforceable an agreement for indemnity which would not have been enforceable if this section had not been passed.
- Interpretation
In this Law—
“Court” means in relation to a claim the Court or arbitrator by or before whom the claim falls to be determined;
“damage” includes loss of life and personal injury;
“dependant” has the same meaning as that assigned to the expression “immediate family” in the Fatal Accidents Law;
“fault” means negligence, breach of statutory duty or other act or omission which gives rise to a liability in tort, or would apart from this Law give rise to the defence of contributory negligence.
- Short title
This Law may be cited as the Torts Law.
CHAPTER T1
TORTS LAW
SUBSIDIARY LEGISLATION
No Subsidiary Legislation
