Supreme Court Petitioned to Halt Circuit Judge’s Ruling in High-Profile Property Case.

A group of petitioners including Oumou Sirleaf Hage, Bashir M. Hage, Monica M. Hage, and others have filed a Petition for a Writ of Prohibition at the Supreme Court of Liberia against Judge Peter W. Gbeneweleh, the Assigned Circuit Judge of the Sixth Judicial Circuit Civil Law Court for Montserrado County, over his recent ruling in a major fraud-in-title case.

Filed before Chambers Justice Jamesatta Wolokolie  the petitioners are seeking to restrain and prohibit Judge Gbeneweleh from enforcing his decision that set aside a unanimous jury verdict which found in their favor in a case involving disputed ownership of property in Monrovia.

The petition stems from a case where the Civil Law Court had conducted a jury trial, resulting in a verdict that reportedly favored the Hage family in determining fraud in title. However, Judge Gbeneweleh later overturned that jury verdict and ordered a new trial,  a move the petitioners claim is unlawful and outside his jurisdiction.

The legal team representing the petitioners is demanding that the Supreme Court bar the trial judge from proceeding with the new trial, and instead order that the original jury verdict be upheld and the matter sent to the Probate Court for final determination of ownership as earlier mandated in a September 5, 2022 Supreme Court ruling in the same case.

The petition cites a 2022 decision by judge J. Boima Kontoe, which held that title issues raised in the matter should be determined by the Probate Court after being transcribed from the trial record. The petitioners argue that Judge Gbeneweleh’s decision to retry the case undermines the authority of that Supreme Court mandate.

The case, involving Nohad Hage Mensah as respondent through her attorney-in-fact Madam Edith Hage-Smith, has stirred significant attention due to the longstanding property dispute and allegations of fraud in title documents.

In their petition, the Hage family claims the judge acted beyond his legal authority and ask the Supreme Court to intervene by issuing the writ and granting all other legal reliefs deemed appropriate.

Author: Melvin Jackson