UNITED SECURITY INSURANCE COMPANY (LTD.) INC., represented by its Managing Director, MR. EPHRIAM OKORO, Appellant, v. JEFFERSON GARTOE, Appellee.

APPEAL FROM THE NATIONAL LABOR COURT

Heard: December 5, 1988. Decided: December 29, 1988

1. A bill of exceptions is a specification of the exceptions made to a judgment, decision, order, ruling or other matter excepted to and relied upon for an appeal together with a statement of the basis of the exception.

2. An appellant is required to present a bill of exceptions signed by him to the trial judge within ten days after the rendition of judgment.

3. A judge is obliged to sign a bill of exceptions, noting on it any reservations he or she may wish to make; the signed bill of exceptions shall be filed with the clerk of court.

4. An appeal may be dismissed by the trial court on motion for failure of appellant to file a bill of exceptions within statutory time.

5. An appeal may be dismissed by the appellate court after filing of the bill of exceptions for failure of appellant to appear at the hearing of the appeal, failure to file an appeal bond, or failure to serve notice of the completion of appeal.

6. Compliance with the appellate procedures and requirements is mandatory; failure to comply within statutory time is sufficient ground for dismissal of an appeal.

7. Where an appellant fails to file an approved appeal bond within the time allowed by the statutes, a motion to dismiss the appeal will be granted.

8. The statutory provisions governing appeal must be strictly followed at all times.

Appellee/movant filed a motion before the National Labour Court for enforcement of a decision of a hearing officer of the Ministry of Labour on the ground that appellant/respondent had failed to file a petition for judicial review within statutory time. The judge of the National Labour Court granted the motion, from which appellant appealed to the Supreme Court. Subsequently, appellee/movant filed a motion to dismiss the appeal. At the call of the case for hearing before the Supreme Court, appellee/ movant informed the Court that it had filed a motion to dismiss the appeal on the grounds that appellant had failed to file a bill of exceptions within the time allowed by statute. The Supreme Court held that the records showed that the bill of exceptions were filed outside of statutory time, and termed the failure of appellant’s counsel to file it in time as “inexcusable neglect.” The motion was therefore granted.

James G. Bull for appellant. James D. Gordon for appellee.

MR. JUSTICE JUNIUS delivered the opinion of the Court.

Movant Jefferson Gartoe filed a motion for enforcement of the hearing officer’s ruling to the National Labour Court because of respondent’s failure to file within the statutory period a petition for judicial review, which motion was resisted by respondent. The said labour court granted the motion. Respondent excepted and announced an appeal before this Honourable Court.

When the case was called for hearing before us, appellee/ movant informed this Court that a motion to dismiss the appeal had been filed. We quote hereunder the counts of the motion as follows:

1. That final judgment was rendered in this case on the 16th day of October, 1987. A bill of exceptions was presented by the appellant to trial judge, His Honour Arthur K. Williams, which he approved on the 26t h day of October, 1987; but instead of the appellant filing the said bill of exceptions with the clerk of the trial court on the said 26t h day of October, the appellant waited until the 27t h day of October, 1987 to file its bill of exceptions, quite eleven (11) days after the rendition of final judgment in violation of the statute.

2. That according to several opinions of the Honourable Supreme Court of Liberia and the statute, the prerequisites for the completion of an appeal are as follows: a) Announcement of the taking of the appeal; b) filing of the bill of exceptions; c) filing of an appeal bond, and d) service and filing of notice of completion of the appeal. Failure to comply with any of these requirements within the time allowed by statute, as in the instant case, shall be ground for dismissal of the appeal. Appellee submits that appellant having filed its bill of exceptions quite eleven days after rendition of the final judgment instead of ten days as provided by statute, renders the entire appeal dismissible. A copy of the clerk’s certificate to this effect is hereto attached and marked exhibit “A” to form a part of this motion.

To the above motion to dismiss, the appeal appellant/ respondent filed a resistance. He stated in substance that:

1. Because appellant says that according to section 51.7, vol. 1 of the Liberian Code of Laws Revised, appellant is required to present its bill of exceptions to be signed by the trial judge within 10 days after rendition of the final judgment. Appellant submits that its bill of exceptions in the above entitled cause was signed in strict compliance with section 51.7 referred to above and filed with the clerk of the labour courts as the law requires.

2. And also because appellant says that it has fully complied with the requirements for filing of its approved bill of exceptions. Whilst it is true that the appellant is required by law to present its bill of exceptions within 10 days after rendition of the final judgment, there is no specific legal requirement that said exceptions must be filed within 10 days after rendition of final judgment. All that the law requires is that any person taking appeal from the final judgment of a trial court must effect all of the processes of such appeal within 60 days from the rendition of final judgment. Appellant submits that where the statute governing the taking of an appeal does not mention the time limit for the completion of each step necessary for the taking of such appeal, one must rely on the 60 days time limit mentioned in said statute for the completion for the taking of said appeal.

From the records certified to this Court, it was discovered that a bill of exceptions was presented by the appellant to the trial judge which he approved on the 26 th day of October 1987, but instead of appellant filing the said bill of exceptions with the clerk of the trial court on the 26 th day of October, the appellant waited until the 27th day of October to file the bill of exceptions, eleven (11) days after the rendition of final judgment.

According to the Civil Procedure Law,

“A bill of exceptions is a specification of the exceptions made to the judgment, decision, order, ruling, or other matter excepted to on the trial and relied upon for the appeal together with a statement of the basis of the exceptions. The appellant shall present a bill of exceptions signed by him to the trial judge within ten days after rendition of the judgment. The judge shall sign the bill of exceptions, noting thereon such reservations as he may wish to make. The signed bill of exceptions shall be filed with the clerk of the trial court.” Civil Procedure Law, Rev. Code 1:51.7.

In the case at bar, the sole issue to be decided is whether the ten-day (10) requirement for the filing of the bill of exceptions takes into account the approval by the trial judge and the filing with the clerk of court.

This Court has held on numerous occasions, in conjunction with our statute, that “[a]n appeal may be dismissed by the trial court on motion for failure of the appellant to file a bill of exceptions within the time allowed by statute, and by the appellate court after filing of the bill of exceptions for failure of the appellant to appear on the hearing of the appeal, to file an appeal bond, or to serve notice of the completion of the appeal as required by statute.” Civil Procedure Law, Rev. Code 1; 51.16.

During the argument, counsel for respondent strongly contended that the ten-day required by statute simply refers to the statutory time between the rendition of final judgment and approval of the bill of exceptions by the trial judge, but does not include filing of the bill of exceptions with the clerk of the trial court. This contention we fail to agree with, for it is specifically provided that the filing of the bill of exceptions must be done within 10 days as stated, supra. Legislative intent of statute is mandatory and therefore must be adhered to and “failure to comply with any of these requirements within the time allowed by statute shall be ground for dismissal of the appeal.” Civil Procedure Law, Rev. Code 1:51.4. “When an appellant has failed to file an approved appeal bond within the statutory prescribed period of time, a motion to dismiss the appeal will be granted.”Smythe v Mends-Cole, 13 LLR 81 (1957).

Appeal in this jurisdiction is controlled by statutory provisions and it must be strictly followed at all times. In the case Vamply of Liberia v. Manning, [1976] LRSC 41; 25 LLR 188 (1976) this Court held that, “It will not do for parties what they neglect to do for themselves; and that failure to timely file an approved bill of exceptions, to post an appeal bond or to serve a notice of completion of appeal are all grounds for the dismissal of an appeal.”

From the foregoing, we are convinced that the appeal in question should be dismissed for the inexcusable neglect exhibited by the appellant and his counsel. Therefore, in view of the foregoing, the appeal is hereby dismissed with costs against the appellant. And it is hereby so ordered.

Motion granted; appeal dismissed.