The Supreme Court of Liberia on Tuesday, January 9, 2023 indefinitely suspended legal argument in a petition for the writ of prohibition filed by Unity Party (UP) against Cllr. Frank Musa Dean, Jr., President Nominee for the Office of Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of Liberia.
The Supreme Court’s indefinite suspension of the hearing was due to the failure of the Unity Party lawyers to serve the adversary parties (Ministry of Justice and House of Senate) copies of a motion filed with the high court at an eleventh hour to the hearing of the main lawsuit—the writ of prohibition.
The motion filed by Unity Party on Monday, January 8, 2024, is seeking the recusal of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Liberia, Her Honor Sie-A-Nyene Yuoh, from presiding over the prohibition proceeding against Cllr. Musa Dean.
At the call of the prohibition case on Tuesday, January 9, 2024, lawyers representing the Unity Party informed the high court’s Bench that, as a matter of law and procedure, the court must first hear the motion and pass on it before getting to the main lawsuit (prohibition).
But in response to the Unity Party, lawyers of the Liberian Senate and Ministry of Justice, relying on Chapter 8.2 of the Civil Procedure Law, said the motion should have been served on the opposing parties to enable them to adequately respond to the averments contained in it, but it was not done by the Unity Party.
The government’s lawyers stated, “In the instance case, the motion came as surprise to us. We are asking the court to decline to hear said motion.”
The respondents (government) said “notice” being a fundamental principle of law, it ought to be observed at all times.
“The respondents haven’t received the motion up to the time of this case in court—makes it difficult for them to respond,” stated government’s lawyers.
Speaking on behalf of the Supreme Court, Chief Justice Sie-A-Nyene Yuoh said the records showed that the motion in question was filed a day before the hearing of the petition for a writ of prohibition.
Chief Justice Yuoh said, “This court says ‘notice’ being the cardinal principle of law, the matter has been suspended and rescheduled to a later date, to be announced by the court.”
Observers are saying that the action of the Supreme Court has cleared the doubt over whether or not the Liberian Senate can go on with the confirmation hearing of Cllr. Dean, as the Senate has not been served with any writ.
