A Federal High Court in Lagos has fined a top lawyer, Norrison Quakers (SAN), N2 million for filing a case the judge called frivolous, vexatious, and an abuse of the court system.

The court also threw out the entire lawsuit.

Justice Akintayo Aluko ruled that Mr. Quakers and his clients filed a new case even though related appeals were already pending before a higher court. The judge said this was a wrong and improper way to use the court process.

According to the judge, the new lawsuit was mainly intended to block compliance with earlier court orders that had directed the parties to go to arbitration, a private way of settling disputes outside court.

The plaintiffs were FBN Quest Trustees Limited and Mr. Henry Enemodia, a court-appointed receiver for several companies.

They sued the Regional Centre for International Commercial Arbitration (RCICAL) and its Director, Dr. McHarry Mordi. They were challenging the appointment of a sole arbitrator, Prof. Ike Ehiribe, to resolve business disputes between the parties.

The plaintiffs argued that arbitration should not continue because appeals from earlier court decisions were still pending.

Justice Aluko disagreed completely. He said:

· Filing a fresh suit while appeals were pending was improper.

· The court had no power to review decisions already on appeal.

· The lawsuit duplicated existing legal actions over the same issue.

He described the case as “vexatious, frivolous and amount to gross abuse of court process.”

The court also ruled that the arbitration centre was protected by law under the Arbitration and Mediation Act 2023. The judge said the centre simply did its job by appointing an arbitrator as requested. There was no evidence of bad faith.

The court ordered the following.

· N2 million – to be paid personally by Mr. Quakers, the lead lawyer

· N15 million – to be paid by the plaintiffs for the defendants’ legal expenses

· N5 million – additional costs against the first plaintiff

Justice Aluko stressed that there must be an end to litigation. He warned against using court cases to frustrate earlier court orders and judicial proceedings.

The judge noted that Nigerian courts already have proper ways like applications for a stay of execution to protect matters under appeal. Filing a completely new case to achieve the same goal, he said, is an abuse of the system.