A Road To Ply By A Respondent Who Desires To Support Appellant’s Appeal By S.O. Giwa Esq

Rules of Court including Court of Appeal Rules 2016 are rules of procedure which set out procedural pathways or guidelines for each step which parties are to follow in the litigation process. The extant rules which govern business before the Court of Appeal in Nigeria across all judicial divisions on procedural matters are the Court of Appeal Rules 2016 which regulate steps that appellant(s) or respondent(s) are to take in the hearing of the appeal.

Reading through all the provisions in the Court of Appeal Rules 2016 with a view to finding out the required procedural steps to take by a party joined in an appellant’s appeal as respondent to the appellant’s appeal; served with a notice of appeal and a copy of appellant’s brief of argument but decides to support the appellant’s appeal and wants the appeal allowed upon the grounds of the appeal evinced that there is no provision in the Court of Appeal Rules 2016 stating the procedural steps which such respondent is to take in the hearing of appeal.

It is observed that most litigants with such desire of supporting the appellant’s appeal and who wants the appellant’s appeal allowed do file their respondents’ brief of arguments which the contents are nothing but support for the appellant’s appeal.

One continues to wonder why some respondents who are desirous of supporting an appellant’s appeal do file respondents’ brief of argument containing arguments and submission which support the appellant’s appeal instead of filing respondents’ brief with arguments and submission in defence of the decision of the trial court. This step being taken by those respondents via filing of respondents’ brief of argument containing arguments and submission which support the appellant’s appeal is not provided for in the Court of Appeal Rules 2016 and yet some litigants with such desire through their counsel do file such brief of argument. How appropriate is this self-decided step?

It is importantly important to say at this juncture that the Court of Appeal Rules have provisions for the required procedural steps to take by respondent who, not having appealed from the decision of the trial court, desires to contend that the decision of the trial court be varied either in whole or in part on the appeal and a respondent who desires to contend that the decision of the trial court be affirmed on the grounds other than those relied upon by the trial court on the appeal.

It is the required procedural step to take by those respondents mentioned in the preceding paragraph that such respondents are to file their respondents’ notice to that effect specifying the grounds of that contention and the precise form of the order which the respondents propose to ask the court of appeal to make or specifying the grounds other than those relied by the trial court as the case may be.

Flowing from the absence of the provision in the Court of Appeal Rules for the required procedural step to take by the respondent who is desirous to support the appellant’s appeal on an appeal is the dire need for recommendation of procedural step to take by the respondent who desires to support the appellant’s appeal on an appeal in lieu of filing of respondents’ brief of argument containing arguments and submission which support the appellant’s appeal.

It is hereby recommended that instead of filing of respondents’ brief of argument containing arguments and submission which support the appellant’s appeal by respondents, the respondent who desires to support the appellant’s appeal should accept such decision in good faith by filing any process before the Court of Appeal as doing this would save such respondent from further wastage of money.

It is the writer’s stand that since a respondent is the party who must respond to an appeal by the losing party in the trial court, called ‘appellant’ in the appeal court; and instead of filing of respondents’ brief of argument containing arguments and submission which supports the appellant’s appeal by such respondent, refraining from filing of any process in the hearing of the appeal before the Court of Appeal is very essential or better still, provision for procedural step to take by respondent who desires to support the appellant’s appeal be made in the Court of Appeal Rules 2016. Hence, further amendment of the Court of Appeal Rules 2016 is recommended to contain such provision to put a halt to self-decided step.

It is further recommended that a respondent who desires to support the appellant’s appeal on an appeal should file his/her own separate appeal either on the same grounds with the appellant’s appeal or on different grounds from the appellant’s grounds to be heard alongside with the appellant’s appeal instead of filing of respondents’ brief of argument containing arguments and submission which supports the appellant’s appeal by such respondent.

S.O. GIWA ESQ. a.k.a pentalk (Ibadan based Legal Practitioner) giwa_pentalk@yahoo.com 08035224192