NIGERIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Abubakar Anafi, Larry Nkwor, Justice Uka-Ofor and Ayomide Abiodun, G Elias
3. Initiating a Lawsuit 3.1 Rules on Pre-Action Conduct
2.2 Third-Party Funding: Lawsuits No action in court (except arbitration) is available for third-party funding, subject to what is written in 2.1 Third-Party Litigation Funding . 2.3 Third-Party Funding for Plaintiff and Defendant Third-party funding is not available to either the plain- tiff or the defendant, except in arbitration. 2.4 Minimum and Maximum Amounts of Third-Party Funding No minimum and maximum amounts are applicable because third-party funding is prohibited, except in arbitration. 2.5 Types of Costs Considered Under Third- Party Funding No costs need to be considered because third-party funding is prohibited, except in arbitration. 2.6 Contingency Fees Contingency fees are permitted under Nigerian law provided that: • the contract is reasonable in all circumstances, including the risk and uncertainty of the compensa- tion; • the contract is not vitiated by fraud, mistake or undue influence, or contrary to public policy; and • it is reasonably obvious that there is a valid cause of action. Lawyers are prohibited from entering contingency fee arrangements when representing defendants in crimi- nal cases (see the Rules of Professional Conduct for Legal Practitioners, 2023, Rule 50.) 2.7 Time Limit for Obtaining Third-Party Funding Third-party funding is prohibited except in arbitration. There are no applicable time limits on this point.
Some court rules require the parties to try to seek set- tlement before filing an action. For example, a party cannot institute an action in the High Court of Lagos State, until the expiration of a total period of 14 days after delivery of a memorandum of claim setting out their claims and proposed settlement to the other party. The laws establishing some statutory bodies usually require that a pre-action notice must be served on the bodies before suits are commenced in court. There are no requirements for the potential defendant(s) to respond to the pre-action protocol or pre-action notice. If a claimant fails to comply with a pre-action protocol or pre-action notice requirement, the court may strike out the suit. 3.2 Statutes of Limitations Limitation laws differ from state to state in Nigeria. For instance, the applicable law in the Federal Capital Ter- ritory is the Limitation Act, 1966 while in Lagos State, the applicable statute is the Limitation Law of Lagos State, 2015. In the Federal Capital Territory and Lagos State (and most states of the federation), the limitation periods are as follows: • actions founded on simple contracts – six years; • negligence suits – three years; • actions upon instruments under seal – 12 years; and • actions for recovery of land – 12 years. Further, actions against public officers must be insti- tuted within three months of the date when the cause of action accrued. A limitation period is triggered by the accrual of a cause of action. A cause of action accrues when the events enabling a claimant to maintain an action are complete.
818 CHAMBERS.COM
Powered by FlippingBook