Posted by By OLA AGBAJE on
Wife of ace sports commentator, Larry Izamoje, Mrs Bridget Larry-Izamoje, has dragged KLM Royal Dutch Airlines to court over alleged breach of con tract and ill-treatment.
Wife of ace sports commentator, Larry Izamoje, Mrs Bridget Larry-Izamoje, has dragged KLM Royal Dutch Airlines to court over alleged breach of con tract and ill-treatment.
According to the suit filed before a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos, Izamoje, instituted the action for herself and her children who were alleged to be victims of the alleged breach of contract by KLM during a vacation trip to Paris, the French capital between July and August in 2006.
Specifically, the plaintiff in its statement of claim, averred that the contractual agreement between her and her children on one part and KLM on the other was made manifest in the tickets purchased for the trip, which was routed through Lagos-Amsterdam-Paris-Amsterdam-Lagos.
By virtue of the agreement, the airline was expected to airlift the Izamojes back to the country on September 1, 2006.
While their journey to overseas was smooth, the plaintiff averred that the return trip was riddled with violence, ill-treatment and dehumanization, totally against the spirit and letters of the contractual agreement between the two parties.
However, the defendant countered and maintained that it breached no contractual agreement with the plaintiff, claiming that it duly executed the agreement by returning the plaintiff to Nigeria on September 1, 2006 through Ghana via Virgin Nigeria aircraft.
The plaintiff in instituting the action claimed that the defendant failed to adhere strictly to an international law on the protection of passengers. The plaintiff claimed that Regulation (EC) No. 261/2004 is applicable to KLM operations in Nigeria. However, the defendant argued that Regulation (EC), No. 261/2004 is not applicable to Nigeria.
While the plaintiff claimed that the sudden and arbitrary change of her traveling route by the defendant is a violent breach of Regulation (EC) No. 261/2004, the defendant maintained that such change of passengers traveling schedule is normal and routine depending on situation and circumstances.
As a result of the alleged breach of contract and ill-treatment allegedly meted to the plaintiff by the staff and agents of KLM, including its Customer Relations Officer, Miss Folake Akinleye, who allegedly treated Izamoje shabbily when she lodged a complaint to the airlines, the plaintiff is demanding for a sum of N5 million for destroying its luggage and another N5 million compensation for the emotional trauma, which the neglect of the defendant caused the plaintiff.