In a unanimous decision, Lord Justice Snowden, the lead judge, permitted P&ID to appeal a lower court’s judgment but ultimately dismissed the appeal.
According to the judgment published on the UK judiciary website, one key issue in the P&ID appeal concerned whether the lower court erred in ordering the £43 million legal costs to be paid in British pounds sterling rather than in Nigerian naira. P&ID argued that Nigeria had funded its legal services by exchanging naira from its consolidated revenue fund.
The second issue raised by P&ID questioned whether the judge was right to order the payment of Nigeria’s legal costs in sterling.
Judge Snowden accepted Nigeria’s argument that since the legal costs were paid in sterling, the cost order should also be in the same currency. “In my judgment, therefore, the judge was right to accept Nigeria’s straightforward submission that because Nigeria had been invoiced and had incurred its liability to its solicitors in sterling and had paid those bills in sterling, the court ought to make its Costs Order in sterling,” the judge ruled.
Despite permitting P&ID to appeal, Snowden dismissed the appeal, upholding the lower court’s decision.
