VIDEO: Judging Matters Episode 6: The Impact of Social Media Comments and Trust Issues

Real-life issues getting tougher on Judging Matters with Justice Olusola Williams and Counsel Ebuka Obi -Uchendu. The issues may be small cases or minor claims, but it leaves you with a lot of insights, information, and even entertainment to keep you amazed at everyday life issues, at a time like this. One key learning point from episode one has been to never enter into verbal agreements with anyone while transacting business. On episode 6, we saw 2 cases involving a defamatory statement on social media, and a car purchase transaction that went bad.

Case 1: Janet Osemudiame vs Roseline Lawrence

Janet is requesting for N100,000 damages from Roseline, for defamatory social media posts made about her skin products. Roseline wanted a clearer skin, thus she purchased a N12,000 kit from Janet, and this product pack cleared the spots on her skin. Thereafter, she wanted a brighter skin, but the same product did not work. She then took to Instagram and wrote a defamatory statement on Janet’s page, saying the product was fake and the 24-7 product does not work. Janet is, therefore, praying the court to instruct Roseline to take down the social media comments and pay for damages worth N100,000. When Janet was asked how she came about the N100,000 she said the defamatory statement had affected her personally as well as her product brand. She further told the court that she had lost some of her prospective clients due to the statement.  In her ruling, Justice Olusola Williams instructed Roseline to take down the post and also make a payment of N75,000 to Janet for the damages caused to her and her business. The product Roseline bought did actually clear her spots and that was the initial agreement at purchase.

Case 2: Abdul Abubakar vs Chigozie Ndubusi

In August 2019, the plaintiff Chigozie had bought a car from Abdul at an agreed negotiated price of N500,000, with an initial deposit of N380,000 with a verbal agreement to make the balance payment of N120,000 in October.  In October 2019, Chigozie paid another N20,000 to Abdul, 3 weeks after this payment was made, He complained to Abdul that the car was giving him issues and since then he had defaulted in paying up the remaining N100,000 until Abdul fixes the issues with the car.

The defendant, Abdul told the court that He needed money and had to sell his car to Chigozie at a negotiated price of N500,000. This same car at that time sold for between N700,000 to N750,000 in the market. Abdul said Chinedu tested the car before he bought it, although there was no written agreement or receipts for the transaction. He said the car had no issues at the time of purchase. When the counsel probed further, Chigozie revealed that he did not test drive the car, as he was in a hurry to embark on a journey the day he got the car, Abdul only drove him round in the car, he paid and traveled.

To gain clearer insights about the issue, Ebuka asked Chigozie if he told Abdul that by the time, he tested the car and it is not in a good condition he would get his refund, and Chigozie said no.

Chigozie told the court that he got back from his trip and discovered the car wasn’t working anymore, he had to change the battery and then the car began making some faulty sound. On another occasion, one of the doors was malfunctioning, at this point Chigozie thought Abdul sold him the car with the knowledge of these issues, hence the reason Chigozie told Abdul that if he fixed the car he wasn’t going to pay the N100,000 balance. Chigozie spent about N80,000 on the car and all the car problems had been fixed.

In her ruling, Justice Olusola Williams said to Chigozie, “you shouldn’t kick a man when he’s down. Abdul was broke and he needed money, this was why he sold the car. Mr. Chigozie, this car has been in your custody for months, and so you have to pay the balance,” She thereafter declared judgment for the claimant in the sum of N100,000.

Don’t miss the next episode of Judging Matters on Mondays on Africa Magic Showcase channel 151 at 6:00 pm, with a repeat episode on the same channel on Wednesdays at 10:00 pm.