British Airways Pays Compensation

<h4>British Airways Pays Compensation over infractions<&sol;h4>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">OpenLife Nigeria<&sol;a><&sol;strong> has gathered that the chairman&comma; Epe branch of the Nigerian Bar Association&comma; NBA&comma; Ademola Koko&comma; alongside three others&comma; who sued British Airways over breach of contract had consensually agreed to amicable settlement&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;In pursuance thereto&comma; the two parties have irrevocably agreed to an out-of-court settlement upon the terms and conditions as follows&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;According to information&comma; British Airways has agreed to pay €1&comma;200&lpar;One Thousand two Hundred Euros Only&rpar; to be paid in the Naira equivalent as compensation in resolution of the dispute&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Ademola Koko has also agreed to accept N500&comma;000 &lpar;Five Hundred Thousand Naira&rpar; only as cost of this action&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Trouble started when Barrister Ademola Abiodun Koko&comma; alongside his wife Dr&lpar;Mrs&rpar; Tolulope Olubowale Koko and two children Mr Adeleke Joshua Koko&comma;Miss Temiloluwa Elizabeth Koko slammed €15&comma;000 suit on British Airways over an alleged breach of contract&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;In a statement of claim filed before a Federal high court sitting in Lagos south West Nigeria&comma;by Barrister Abiodun Koko&comma; for himself and other plaintiffs&comma;he averred that they are family of four travelling to United States to celebrate the 50th birthday of his wife sometimes in May&comma;2019<br &sol;>&NewLine;The plaintiffs aver that in pursuance of their intention to travel&comma; secured personal tickets for each of the plaintiffs from the company of the defendant which was to depart on 21st of May&comma;2019 and return on the 5th of June&comma;2019 respectively&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The Plaintiffs flight itinerary on<strong> British<&sol;strong> Airways was scheduled to start from Lagos to London and finally to arrive at Washington in the United States&comma; while return flight was scheduled to move from Washington to London and finally arrive in Lagos&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;However the Plaintiffs on commencing on the return flight departed <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;vanguardngr&period;com&sol;">Washington Dulles Airport&comma;<&sol;a>United States with British airways aircraft BA216 on the 4th of June&comma;2019 at 6&colon;30 P M and got to London Heathrow airport in the morning of 5th of June&comma;2019&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The flight itinerary took a dip for the worse at this point and the Plaintiffs were further delayed for three hours as the Plaintiffs&&num;8217&semi; which was originally meant to move to Lagos from London by 11&colon;20 am was further delayed till 2&colon;40 p m&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;As a result of the above stated facts&comma; the plaintiffs suffered untold hardship&comma; which fostered the psychological breakdown of the Plaintiffs&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The Plaintiffs aver further that the delay was as a result of the total negligence by the defendant&comma;and in admission of their negligence the defendants distributed an insulting palliative of five pounds refreshment voucher to appease the Plaintiffs&comma;but they never used the voucher as they consider it to be insultive&comma;besides the defendant never apologised and was unconcerned about the plight of the passengers&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The Plaintiffs wrote letter to the defendant both in Nigeria and United Kingdom&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The defendant in response to the letter admitted to compensation in the sum of €1&comma;200&comma;but deliberately refused to pay same&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Consequently&comma; the Plaintiffs claim against the defendant are as follows&colon;<br &sol;>&NewLine;<strong>Compensation in the sum of £2&comma;120<&sol;strong><br &sol;>&NewLine;<strong>Compensation in the sum of €1&comma;200 admitted&comma;<&sol;strong><br &sol;>&NewLine;<strong>The sum of £1&comma;750 as special damages&period;<&sol;strong><br &sol;>&NewLine;General damages in the sum of £10&comma;000 against the defendant for its negligence acts and breach of contract<br &sol;>&NewLine;The sum of N500&comma;000 against the defendant as cost of this legal action&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;However&comma;in a statement of defence filed before the court by a Lagos Lawyer Tayo Laleye&comma; the British Airways stated that it investigated the claim of the plaintiffs and though found the delay to it&&num;8217&semi;s flight service was caused by unforeseen flight safety shortcomings&comma; the defendant&comma;nevertheless&comma;and on goodwill basis did offer the Plaintiffs compensation in the sum of€1&comma;200&comma;Euros&comma; the compensation is not an admission of guilty&comma; but purely on goodwill basis&comma; while specific instruction were issued to plaintiffs on how to claim the compensation&comma; but no time frames were specified for such payment&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Whereof the defendant denies all the reliefs sought by the Plaintiffs and urge the court to dismiss the suit&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;