SUBORZU GIBSON, Petitioner, v. HIS HONOUR C. BENEDICT KENNEDY, SR., Resident Circuit Judge, Tenth Judicial Circuit Court, Lofa County, and KNOWAI, Respondents.
PETITION FOR A WRIT OF ERROR FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE TENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT, LOFA COUNTY.
Decided November 13, 1984.
- Statutory provisions governing remedial processes, including the petition for a writ of error, must be strictly adhered to, or the petition will be denied and relief refused.
- A petition for a writ of error may be dismissed as materially defective where the parties are wrongly described as petitioners and respondents instead of plaintiffs and defendants in error, or where the affidavit submitted with the petition fails to state that the petition was not made for the purpose of harassment and delay, or the counsellor certificate attached to the petition fails to state that in the opinion of the counsellors real errors are assigned.
A petition for a writ of error was filed by the plaintiff-in-error, plaintiff in the trial court, against the presiding judge, alleging that the case had been disposed of without the plaintiff being accorded his day in court. In their returns, the defendants-in-error prayed for the dismissal of the petition, alleging that there was no counsellor certificate attached to the petition and that the petition had wrongly denominated the parties as petitioner and respondents rather than plaintiff-in-error and defendants-in-error.
The Chamber Justice agreed with the contention of the defendants-in-error, holding that the omission of the counsellor’s certificate and the wrong designation of the parties were such material defects as warranted the dismissal of the petition. The Justice held that the statutory provisions governing remedial processes are to be strictly adhered to, and that where there is a failure to strictly comply with the requirements of the statute, the Court will refuse relief to the petitioning party. The Chambers Justice therefore dismissed the petition without prejudice.
Appearances not indicated
MORRIS, J., presiding in chambers