Justice Ibrahim Kala of the Federal High Court in Lagos has ordered British Airways to pay a Nigerian passenger, Mr Stephen Osho, N50m as general damages for the loss of his luggage and unfair treatment.
The court also awarded N3m as the cost of the action in favour of Osho, bringing the total compensation to N53m.
Delivering judgment on August 21, Justice Kala held that Osho had proved that the airline breached its obligations under the international contract of carriage when it failed to deliver his checked baggage on Flight BA307 from Paris to London on December 2, 2022.
The judge ruled that the passenger suffered undue hardship, inconvenience, and financial loss due to the airline’s conduct.
Kala said, “From the cases presented by parties before this court, there is admissible, credible and sufficient evidence to establish, on the balance of probability, that the defendant is responsible and liable for the loss of the plaintiff’s baggage during the period it was in charge of the defendant’s carrier, having cleared and issued with baggage tag No BA741520, for its flight BA307, from Paris to London on December 2, 2022, but the bag never arrived with the flight and ultimately got lost,” he held.
Kala said the argument “collapsed like a pack of cards,” describing it as an afterthought aimed at exonerating the carrier from liability under Article 17 (2) of the Montreal Convention.
The judge further held,” I am emboldened to state that the defendant erected a weak defence regarding the so- called old Air France tag claimed to have been negligently left by the plaintiff on the bag to have been responsible for its loss, all in an attempt to exonerate the defendant’s carrier from liability under the proviso to Article 17 (2) of the Montreal convention, and which defence, with greatest respect collapsed like a park of cards.
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