The Lagos High Court‘s Justice Adewunmi Oshin has prevented the Lagos State government from taking over and demolishing Fourscore Heights Limited’s two remaining high-rise buildings.
On November 1, 2021, a 21-story high-rise building on Gerrard Road in Ikoyi, Lagos State, collapsed, killing 46 people and rescuing 15 others.
In a decision on an ex-parte application filed by 15 building subscribers, the judge ordered all parties in the suit to maintain the status quo pending the hearing and determination of the substantive suit.
He also ordered the applicants to serve all of the defendants in the suit with the court processes. He then postponed the hearing on the substantive matter until September 29.
Fifteen subscribers to the three high-rise buildings at 44BCD had filed a lawsuit against the Lagos State government after one of the buildings collapsed.
Their lawyer, A.U. Mustapha (SAN), filed the suit on their behalf on August 12, 2022, with suit no: LD/3962LM/22. Defendants in the suits include: the Lagos State government, the Attorney-General of Lagos, the state ministry of physical planning and urban development, the Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA), and Edge of Design Limited.
They sought among other reliefs, “an order restraining the defendants from trespassing or further trespassing, demolishing or further demolishing the properties known as Tower 2 and Tower 3 until an independent audit of the property is carried out by the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN).
They also sought “An order of perpetual injunction restraining the defendants from disturbing, interfering with, taking, receiving or in any way taking possession of, demolishing, divesting and/or revoking the title, disposing of all or any part of the property, landed or otherwise.
They are seeking N200 million in general damages and another N50 million in court costs.
They claimed that the Lagos State government failed to supervise the collapsed building in accordance with regulations, despite having invested more than N15 billion in the property.
They sought the court to, “Declare that the first to fourth defendants were negligent in the performance of their duties by failing and/or neglecting to supervise the construction of one of the three towers.
They are also urging the court to “Declare that the agreements between Fourscore Heights Limited and each of them to acquire units of flats, with agreed considerations paid, entitle them to equitable rights and interests in the other two towers.
They argued that the first to fourth defendants could not profit from their negligence by compulsorily, wrongfully, illegally, and punitively acquiring or threatening to acquire the property at 44BCD through forfeiture and/or purported forfeiture to the Lagos State government in the aftermath of one of the towers’ collapse.
The claimants also requested that the court rule that “Any demolition of the two other towers when independent evidence of unfavorable non-destructive test results has not been produced will adversely affect their equitable interests in the said properties.”
