IN THE HIGH COURT OF MALAWI
PRINCIPAL
REGISTRY
CIVIL
CAUSE NO. 1800 OF 1995
BETWEEN:
BR. NGA MTAFU ………………………………………………………..DEFENDANT
Mankhanamba,
Counsel for the Plaintiff
The plaintiff commenced this action against the defendant for damages for trespass to her plot and conversion of her timber thereon. The writ of summons dates as for back as 1995.
The
plaintiff then obtained a default judgment herein on 23rd February,
1996. This is an order on assessment of
damages pursuant to the said judgment.
The
plaintiff took out a notice of hearing of this assessment which was then duly
served on the defendant. The defendant
however did not appear at the hearing leaving the plaintiff’s testimony totally
uncontroverted. The plaintiff was the
only witness herein.
She
informed this court that the defendant entered her plot Number BC 961, Mount
Pleasant in Blantyre and cut down her 65 trees. She informed the court that the defendant did this without her
authority. The plaintiff further stated
that the defendant took away the trees he had cut down namely 50 blue gum and
15 Pine trees.
The
plaintiff also informed the Court that upon consulting the Ministry of Forestry
they told her that her trees which were cut down and taken away by the
defendant, and which the plaintiff says were massive, could have easily yielded
140 planks. The plaintiff then tendered
in evidence 2 quotations on the price of a single plank from a blue gum and
from a blue gum and from a pine tree.
The first quotation was from wood Industries corporation dated 11th
February, 2003 which was marked as Exhibit P. 1. Exhibit P. 1. quoted the price of plank of a blue gum tree
at K448.80 and that of a plank of a Pine tree at K420.75.
The
second quotation was from Southern Timbers and was dated 11th
February, 2003 and marked as Exhibit P. 2 Exhibit P. 2 quoted the 2 prices for 2 planks of a pine
tree of different dimensions. The small
of the 2 planks was quoted at K350.00 whilst the larger of the 2 was quoted at
K500.00. The court notes from examining
Exhibit P. 2 that the dimensions are not very clear in terms of
whether they are from the imperial or the metric system of measurement. As such the court shall not rely on Exhibit
P 2 in its assessment.
The
plaintiff then went on to state that she has lost use of her timber and would
like to claim for such loss of use. The
Court hastens to point out that damages for loss of use have not been
particularized as part of the claim herein and the court can not award
then. The court shall only consider the
damages claimed namely for conversion and trespass.
The Court
shall deal firstly with the claim for damages for conversion of the plaintiff’s
timber herein. Conversion consists of
an action for recovery of damages for misappropriation of goods. Authoritatively the normal measure of damages
in conversion is the market value of the goods assessed at the time of the
conversion. See Henderson v
Williams (1895) Q.B. 521 and Soloway v Mc Longlilin (1938) A.C. 247.
This
general however, has over the years failed to address all the problems arising
from the need to achieve restitution in integrum. In Consequence thereof Mc Greyor on
Damages 15th Edition at para. 1283 has recommended that
the general rule should be a starting point in order to achieve awarding
adequate compensation in redressive the wrong suffered by the viction. In cases where the defendant had kept the
plaintiff’s goods and has not returned then, the court will presume against the
defendant the greatest value of the converted goods. See Mc Gregor on Damages 15th Edition at Para
1341. This is usually the present value
of the goods. See Ella
Banda V Attorney General Civil Cause No. 1727 of 1993. This is so because the Court seeks to give
an award that compensates adequately for the wrong committed. See Sachs v Miklos (19480 2 k.b. 23.
The Court
notes herein that the present value of the trees converted herein would be the
only measure of damages that would achieve adequate compensation to the
plaintiff.
The
plaintiff’s uncontroverted evidence is that her trees would have yielded 140
planks as per the advice from the Ministry of Forestry. According to Exhibit P. 1
the price of a plank of a blue gum tree is K448.80 and that of a plank of a
pine tree is K420.75. the obvious
problem here is that the plaintiff did not give evidence on how many planks
could have been obtained from 1 blue gum tree or from 1 pine tree. She simply stated that in total she would
have had 140 planks. In the interests
of fairness the court shall use the average price between the price of a plank
of a blue gum tree and a plank of a pine tree as appears in Exhibit P.
1 to represent the price of each plank of the 140 planks.
The
average price shall be (K448.80 + K420.75) ÷ 2 which gives us K434.78.
The loss
occasioned to the plaintiff shall therefore be 140 planks x K434.78 which
becomes K60,869.20 is therefore awarded as damages for conversation. The next item to be dealt with is the claim
for trespass. The court notes that
herein the damage caused to the plaintiff’s land was the removal of the trees
for which the plaintiff has been compensated.
Nevertheless,
the court notes that damages are also awardable for transitory trespass to the
land as was the case in Blantyre Water board v Makhalira 11 MLR 121.
In that case K50.00 was awarded when water Board officials entered the
plaintiff’s premise’s without authority to wrongfully disconnect water supply
thereto. This was in 1984 about 19
years ago. The court notes that since
then the value of the Kwacha has depreciated.
In the circumstances of the instant case the court considers an award of
K5,000.00 to be fair and adequate for the trespass herein.
The total
award is therefore K65,869.20. Costs of
this action are also awarded to the plaintiff.
MADE in
Chambers at Blantyre this 28th February, 2003.
SUPREME
COURT OF APPEAL