Plaintiff told to get papers in order

By ADRIAN MATHIAS
THE Waigani National Court has ordered a contractor claiming K884,275 for work on roads in Mt Hagen from the Western Highlands government to re-work on its documents.
Last Thursday, Justice Stephen Kassman refused granting orders after finding problems with the documents put before him.
He told Joseph Tengen, owner of Teng Constructions Ltd, that his documents had many problems.
Tengen, in his court proceedings of OS NO. 234 of 2012, named acting secretary for finance Steven Gibson as first defendant, Treasury secretary Simon Tosali as second defendant, Department of Finance and Treasury as third defendant and the State as the fourth defendant.
None of the defendants or their legal representatives were present in court.
Tengen appeared in person.
The court heard that Tengen wanted it to consider his claim and give him an order so that he could get his money.
His documents on file consisted of an originating summons, notice of motion, undertaking as to damages and an affidavit in support, which were all filed on April 24.
Tengen asked the court to make a number of declarations including declarations that his company Teng Constructions Ltd, was contracted by the Western Highlands works division in 2002 to upgrade a certain road for the sum of K884,275 but was not paid.
But the court found no evidence on file to prove that his company was engaged with the road maintenance work as claimed.
The court noted that Tengen started the proceeding in his own name “Trading as Teng Constructions Ltd”.
“If the contract was entered into in the name of his company Teng Constructions Ltd, then any proceeding to enforce or rely on such contract must be commenced in the name of that company.
“If the company has been deregistered, then an application will have to be filed for reinstatement to the Registrar of Companies prior to commencement of any proceedings or continuation of any existing proceedings,” Kassman told Tengen.
The court refused his claims and asked him to seek appropriate legal advice.