“Man Files N100m Suit Against A Lawyer For Exposing His Will”

A Claimant, Chief Gaskin Sobrasuaipiri, on Wednesday dragged a lawyer, Prince G Akitoye, before a Port Harcourt High Court, demanding N100Million damages for alleged negligent exposing of a Will prepared for him by the lawyer.

In the writ of summon served on the Defendant, the Claimant is seeking presiding Justice Okogbule Gbasan’s “Declaration that the Defendant’s (Akitoye) act of giving the Claimant’s Will to the Witnesses to read before appending their signatories in presence of the Claimant is unprofessional, negligent and unlawful.

“A declaration that it is unprofessional for the Defendant to allow his office clerk who is of the same locality with the Claimant to handle the Will from the Defendant’s office for the purpose of depositing the Will.

“An order of the Court directing the Defendant to return the file copy of the Claimant’s Will in Defendant’s possession as the Will has been revoked.

“The sum of one hundred million naira only, being general damages for Defendant’s negligence and the trauma/pain the Claimant has suffered as a result of the unprofessional handling of the Will by the Defendant.”

The Claimant in the Statement of Claim made available by his counsel, Erasmus Dike, further averred that “One of the witnesses picked a quarrel with the Claimant for not giving him anything in the Will but gave much to others.

“The relationship between this witness and the Claimant has now gotten sour because of this disclosure of the content of the Will to the Witness by the Defendant.”