Lorde et Al v Clarke et Al

• Jurisdiction: Barbados
• Court: High Court (Barbados)
• Judge: Field, J.
• Judgment Date: 31 March 1959
• Neutral Citation: BB 1959 HC 9
• Docket Number: No. 54 of 1956
• Date: 31 March 1959

Supreme Court

Field, P.J.

No. 54 of 1956

Lorde et al

and

Clarke et al

Appearances:

Mr. D.H.L. Ward for the plaintiffs.

Mr. H.B. St. John for the defendant Martin Greaves and the defendant Daisy Greaves.

Solicitors:

Haynes & Griffith for the plaintiffs.

Yearwood & Boyce for the defendant Martin Greaves and the defendant Daisy Greaves.

Damages - Trespass — Removal of wooden house — Defendant acting as servant or agent in driving truck which removed house — Defendant entitled to be indemnified by owner of truck.

Field, J.

1 In this action the plaintiffs sought to recover against the defendants a boarded and shingled house or its value, and damages for trespass. Judgment was entered against all the defendants by default but was subsequently set aside so far as the defendants Luther Greaves and Daisy Greaves were concerned. The present issue therefore is to determine the liability or otherwise of these two defendants. The defendant Luther Greaves does not deny liability but claims an indemnity against the defendant Florence Clarke, whereas the defendant Daisy Greaves denies liability generally.

2 The claim by the plaintiffs is in respect of the removal of a boarded and shingled house belonging to the first-named plaintiff and occupied by the second-named plaintiff.

3 Judgment by default was entered in favour of Levison Lorde in the sum of $960.00, the value of the house, and $55.00 for its detention, and in respect of the second plaintiff Earle Perryman, for $100 damages for trespass and $55.00 special damages. In the present issue those amounts are not disputed.

4 In so far as the defendant Daisy Greaves is concerned she is not denying the fact that the house was removed, but denies that she took part in its removal as servant or agent of the defendant Florence Clarke or at all.

5 It appears that the defendant Florence Clarke hired a motor truck owned by the defendant Daisy Greaves and driven by her son Luther Greaves, for the purpose of conveying the house from St. Philip to St. Michael. On behalf of the plaintiffs evidence was called in the persons of Emmanuel Lorde, Byron Lyte, Neville Hewitt and Lavinia Perryman, all of whom stated that on the day in question the defendant Daisy Greaves was present assisting in removing the house and putting it on the truck. Emmanuel Lorde is the father of the plaintiff Levison Lorde and his constituted attorney by whom he appears in this case. Lavinia Perryman is the mother of the other plaintiff and was at the house on the day of its removal. Byron Lyte is a member of the Barbados Police Force and a writ server of the district for the Magistrate's Court. For the defence Luther and Daisy Greaves were called and also one Eustace Elliott Alleyne, another Police Constable: they stated that the defendant Daisy Greaves took no active part in removing the house or assisting to put it on the truck. Of the...