By Christian Nwachukwu

Parties to a Civil Suit

By Christian Nwachukwu
Parties are those whose names appear on the Court documents. See GREEN V. GREEN.
The relevance of Parties: It is written so that the judgment of the Court will be binding on
those named as parties.
Designation of Parties: Parties are designated as follows:
PLAINTIFF(S) V. DEFENDANT(S)
CLAIMANT V. DEFENDANT
APPLICANT V. RESPONDENT
PETITIONER V. RESPONDENT

Matters to consider when taking instructions as it relates to parties are:

1. locus standi of the client
2. the proper parties
3. jurisdiction; and
4. capacity to sue.

A party must be a Legal person capable of suing and being sued.

A party may be:
1. Natural persons
2. Artificial persons, e.g. an incorporated company, Government bodies and the
incorporated trustees of Associations

Types of parties
1. Proper parties
These are the parties who are directly involved in the cause of action, i.e., the Plaintiff or
person who has suffered damages and the Defendant or person whose act of commission or
omission has occasioned the damages.
2. Desirable parties
This is a party who was not originally a party to the action nor whose presence is necessary
for the just determination of the issues in the action but nevertheless needs be a party in
order to be bound since the decision in the case may directly affect him.
3. Necessary parties
A party is one whose presence is necessary for the effectual and complete determination of
issues in a suit
4. Nominal parties
These are those who have no direct interest in subject matter but made a party by virtue of his
office e.g. A. G of the State or Federation in actions against the government.

See GREEN V. GREEN

Capacity to Sue and be Sued

1. Infants: can sue through their next friend and defend actions through their guardian ad
litem(Order 11 R. 10 Uniform Procedure Rules, O.13 R 9 Lagos.)
By Christian Nwachukwu

Example Bobo Adams (An infant) suing by his next friend, Mrs. Funke Adams
2. Lunatic: can sue through a next friend or committee in Lunacy and defend actions through
their guardian or Committee in Lunacy.
3. Trustees/ Executors of Estates: the name of the trustee or Executor must appear o n the
Court processes stating that they sue as the estate of the deceased.

Example:
Musa Ardo (suing as Trustees [Executor or Administrators] of the Estate of Sani Abacha) .
Plaintif

See The Estate of Abacha V. Eke Spiff.

1. Partnership or trading names have no capacity to neither sue nor be sued in that name as it
is not a corporate person. They can only sue using the true names of the partners and their
description. Example is:

Obi John (suing under the name and style of BUS Enterprises) .. Plaintif

2. The Government of a State or Federation: can sue and defend actions through the Attorney-
Generals of the States or the Federation. This is because they are the Chief Law officers of
the Government. See S. 150, 195 of the 1999 Constitution as amended and O. 13 R. 9-11 of
the High Court of Lagos Rules 2004. However they are not prevented from instituting actions
or been sued in their names as the principals using the Attorney-General as their agent, i.e.

The Governor of Kano State. Plaintif,

OR
AG Kano State.... Plaintif
See Plateau State Governor v. AG Federation (2006) 3 NWLR (pt. 967) p. 346