An appeal by Lord Nuku against a TP$5 million judgement made against him in the Lands Court has been partially successful, but he must still pay more than TP$3 million to Lord Luani.
The appeal followed a case before Mr Justice Scott in May.
In his summary of the case, Mr Justice Blanchard said that on May 5 this year the court found in favour of Lord Luani for TP$5,556,000 against Lord Nuku and a number of Chinese companies for trespass on two blocks of land referred to as Lot 85 and Lot 90.
The appeal related to the costs made against trespass on Lot 85 in Malapo.
Lord Luani sued the defendants on various causes of action based on quarrying on Lot 85 between 2011 and 2013.
The quantity removed was found to be 85,009 cubic yards of rock.
As Kaniva News reported earlier this year, Lord Luani told the court that Lord Nuku had never acquired any interest in Lot 85 and that he had no authority to enter it or to allow the two Chinese companies to mine it.
He said that neither he nor his father had ever received any payment at all for the rock and coral excavated from Lot 85.
In his judgement Mr Justice Scott said none of the legal requirements for mining Lot 85 had been met and therefore Lord Nuku and the Chinese companies were trespassing.
He therefore awarded damages equivalent to the value of the materials extracted from the lot by the mining company.
After reviewing Lord Nuku’s appeal, Mr Justice Blanchard found that there was no evidence that Lord Nuku or the Yan Jian Group Co Ltd were guilty of fraud or conscious wrongdoing.
He set aside the evidence on which the value of the extracted rock was calculated and reduced its value to TP$3,380,335.
As a result, the appeals by Lord Nuku and Yan Jian Group Co. Ltd allowed in part.
The judgment against Lord Nuku and Yan Jiang Group Ltd was set at TP$3,380,335 and costs with effect from May 5, 2017 with interest at the rate of 10% per annum from that date until satisfied.
Other appeals by Lord Nuku and Yan Jiang Group Ltd were dismissed.
The appeal by Yan Jian Tonga Ltd was allowed.
The court ordered Lord Nuku to pay Yan Jian Tonga Ltd’s costs.