By Lukman Olabiyi
The Federal High Court in Lagos will, on October 22, hear a lawsuit filed by security expert Alhaji Ahmed Rabiu against Virgin Atlantic Airways over alleged breach of contract and the loss of his luggage.
The hearing, initially set for Friday, was adjourned because the airline failed to file its defence within time.
In the suit, Rabiu is seeking $4,000 to cover the value of items lost in his luggage, N20 million in damages for distress, inconvenience, and legal fees incurred while trying to recover his luggage, which allegedly disappeared on a Virgin Atlantic Airways flight from London to Lagos on September 24, 2024.
The plaintiff had also told the court that, contrary to the airline’s claims, he was neither compensated for his lost luggage nor was it replaced.
He also argued in his statement of claim that his lawsuit is valid and well-founded, as the defendant has not denied that he lost his luggage while using their airline.
In its defence, the airline blamed its inability to trace and locate the plaintiff’s luggage on his failure to provide adequate information on the Property Irregularity Form given to him after he reported the loss.
The defendant also stated in its statement of defence that the plaintiff’s allegations of fraud, recklessness, and negligence against the airline, its staff, and its agents are false.
In an affidavit filed in support of the suit, the passenger averred that he boarded flight No. CNY3JV from London-Heathrow, United Kingdom, to Murtala Mohammed Airport in Lagos after undergoing rigorous security checks; he was properly checked in, along with his tagged prime luggage, by the Defendant’s operational staff.
But after the plane landed in Lagos, he waited at the conveyor belt from the moment the baggage carousel was activated until it was switched off, and every other passenger on the Defendant’s flight picked up their luggage and left except him.
The plaintiff also maintained that he immediately informed the Defendant’s staff on the ground and he was given the Defendant’s Loss of Baggage Form to fill out and submit, which he did immediately, but that the airline neither gave him his luggage nor replaced the same or better still, pay for the value of the contents of his luggage.
Rabiu also claimed that upon the theft and loss of his luggage, he caused his lawyers to write the Defendant a demand letter requesting the luggage or payment for its contents.
He further stated that the Defendant’s failure to deliver his luggage to him upon arrival in Lagos after straining his finances to purchase the Defendant’s flight ticket was a massive breach of contract.
The plaintiff also stated that the defendant’s statement of defence is dilatory, vexatious and a deliberate attempt to escape liability despite the Defendant’s negligence and or recklessness.
The defendant, in its statement of defence, submitted that the plaintiff is not entitled to N20 million as damages, and in the unlikely event that it is found liable in this suit, its liability, if any, shall be as provided in the Montreal Convention 1999, which has been entrenched in the Nigerian Civil Aviation Act, 2023.
Justice Alexander Owoeye has fixed October 22 for the hearing of the suit.