The Petit Jurors of the Sixth Judicial Circuit Civil Law Court at the Temple of Justice in Monrovia have handed down a unanimous guilty verdict against Orange Liberia for Action of damages.
The jurors, on January 3, 2025, imposed a fine of L$3,000,000 as general damages, while L$685,260 plus US$2,350 as specific damages.
The petit jurors in their final verdict said after carefully reviewing the facts and evidence adduced in open court and based on witnesses’ testimonies, they unanimously found the GSM Service Provider liable of the charge of Damages for Wrong.
While on the witness stand, plaintiff Alpha Saliou Barry, the Proprietor of the Boussoura Foreign Exchange Bureau testified that on July 17, 2023, he received a customer to transfer L$70,000 at 5pm.
According to him, the customer came with two separate phones to do the withdrawal of the L$70,000.
“I withdrew the money and gave him his money. After that, around 6:00 P.M another customer came to cash out LR $3,000 but the network was down from my phone. So, I called directly to my office LR & Sons and said there was no network. And, I was told to wait for the next day,” he testified on the witness stand.
Barry further testified that he visited the Orange Liberia Head Office in Oldest Congo Town to know what was happening to his SIM Card due to the constant no network issue he was encountering.
He asserted that the GSM Service provider kept dragging him while his SIM Card was blocked for 47 days without unlocking his SIM Card.
According to Barry, the action of the GSM Company caused him to be out of business thereby causing him emotional and psychological imbalances.
“The damages Orange Liberia caused me, I used to make L$16,000.00 every week, the money exchanged daily, and I can make L$5,000 the least. I sell Orange scratch cards wholesale and retail; on a daily basis I sell 100 packs, each pack I have 0.25, meaning, I make US$25 daily. That is the damage Orange caused me during the 47 days,” he testified.
When quizzed on the witness stand of how he and his family were affected as the result of Orange Liberia closure/ blockage of his SIM Card with the amount of LR$ 2.5 Million in his Orange Money account, Barry said Orange caused him a lot of damages.
“My business closed for 47 days. I have people working for me and those people depend on that one business. I pay those people monthly salaries. My employees insisted that I should pay them because it was not their fault; during the closure of my business, I took my SIM Card to Orange and until now, they have not returned my SIM Card. My wife gave birth during the period and I was not able to do the naming ceremony of my child all because of Orange Liberia blocking my SIM Card,” Barry narrated.
But Orang Liberia, based on the unanimous guilty verdict, filed a motion for a new trial before the presiding Judge of the Sixth Judicial Circuit Civil Law Court Scheaplor R. Dunbar to hear the matter over.
The company in its motion claims that the unanimous guilty verdict should be set aside and a new trial be awarded to them because the Judge’s charge to the jurors was clear but they went on the contrary.
Orange lawyers said the Judge told the jurors that in reaching a verdict, they should apply the laws and the evidence adduced during the trial beyond a reasonable doubt or by preponderance of evidence.
They argued that instead of the Petit Jurors following the Judge’s instruction, they returned with a blanket unanimous verdict.
“A reasonable mind would conclude that the jurors failed to carry out the Judge’s instruction or incorrectly carry out the Judge’s instruction probably as a result of undue influence for which the Judge should take judicial notice of historical facts in keeping with Chapter 25, session 25.2 of the Civil Procedure Law of Liberia,” Orange lawyers argued.
Orange Liberia nine-count motion for new trial ruling is pending before Judge Dunbar, as arguments from both parties were heard. Shortly, Judge Dunbar will come down with the ruling either for or against Orange or Barry.
By T.Q. Lula Jaurey
