Court throws out K4 million damage claim by man

By JACOB POK
A MAN seeking to claim more than K4 million over a lease issue had his matter thrown out when the court found the claim had been dealt with twice in court.
Ken Pegi Koim had leased a vehicle to Gateway Hotel in Port Moresby to transport staff from home and work.
An agreement was entered between the two parties for Gateway to hire the vehicle for K3000 per month for 12 months.
When the contract expired, the vehicle was used for an extra 18 days but Gateway did not pay Koim for that period.
Koim asked Gateway for the extra 18 days payment but was told someone had received his cheque for K2,367.18.
He later found out that the person was Frank Nouairi, a manager at Gateway, who took the money because he said Koim’s vehicle had damaged one of his vehicles.
The vehicle was later repossessed by First Investment Finance Ltd, which offered Koim a loan to buy it. As a result Koim said he incurred losses to his business for 92 days.
Koim instituted proceedings in the district court for the unpaid money and successfully obtained judgment against Gateway who paid the outstanding payments to Koim. But by then the bus had already been sold by the finance company to a third party.
Koim argued that the bus could not have been repossessed or sold if Gateway had paid the debts to him on time. He therefore further pursued proceedings to claim damages against Gateway.
Presiding judge Justice Catharine Davani, after viewing submissions by lawyers, noted that a similar matter was dealt with in the district court and the national court and was dismissed.
She ruled the claim be dismissed in its entirety and that Koim pay the cost of the proceedings to Gateway Hotel.