By Staff Writer
The Civil Law Court expected to rule in the jury tempering accusation against Cllr. Albert Sims, one of the lawyers for Club Beer Factory in the ongoing land dispute case between the Factory and the Intestate Estate of the late Jeda Tor.
The Estate filed Action of Summary Proceedings to Recover Possession of Real Property lawsuit against the Club Beer Factory, seeking its (46) acres of its land laying and situated in Bushrod Island, Montserrado County illegally being occupied by the Factory. It is during the hearing of the case that Cllr. Sims was accused by Cllr.Lawrance Tomah, one of the Estate lawyers and a court staff, Madam Evelyn Karyee of tempering with Juror Arnold Gbaboh outside of the courtroom.
The case against Club Beer Factory was filed by the Intestate Estate of the late Jeda Tor, who accused the Factory of illegally occupying forty-six (46) acres of its land laying and situated in Bushrod Island, Montserrado County,
Cllr. Sims, who for many years worked with the US Sanctioned Cllr. Varney Sherman’s of the Sherman and Sherman Laws firm before he and his colleagues established Justice Advocate and Partners, Inc accused of tempering with one of the male Juror Arnold Gbaboh, on February 4, 2025 during the hearing of the case.
Sims was accused by Cllr. Lawrence Tomah, one of the lawyers for the Estate and a female Court’s staffer Evelyn Karyee.
However, based on the accusations, Judge Scheaplor Dunbar temporarily suspended hearing and had concluded investigation of the acts, and subsequently reserved his ruling.
Both Cllr. Tomah and Evelyn Karyee, in their seperate testimonies claimed that Cllr. Sims and Juror Gbaboh were seeing exchanging contact numbers, immediately after the day’s hearing outside of the courtroom.
Cllr Sims and Juror Gbaboh had denied having any interaction with each other. It can be recalled that Juror Gbaboh, early this year served on the jury panel that decided the unanimous verdict in favour of Ecobank in the US$700,000 libel case brought by Wilmot Smith, dismissed former deputy director general for information Coordination at the Liberia Institute of Statistics and Geo Information Services (,LISGIS).
Cllr. Sims was the lead lawyer in the case for Ecobank, though Smith’s lawyers rejected the jury’s verdict and had filed for a new trial.
In the case of the Estate’s jury tempering compliant, Cllr. Tomah and Evelyn Karyee, one of the courts staffers ,claim that they saw with their eyes Cllr. Sims and Juror Gbaboh exchanging contact numbers, right after the court adjourned, and everyone was adked to stand for the jurors to walk outside of the courtroom, which orderdd was obeyed.
Immediately, Tomah told the investigation that when the jurors walked outside in split seconds, he (Tomah) left his colleagues standing at the bar and he walked out to his dismay and disbelieve, he saw Cllr. Albert Sims and Juror Gbaboh exchanging contact numbers right before the court.
Unfortunately, Tomah claims that he never had his phone with him to take a photograph of the exchanges between Sims and Gbaboh, but immediately calked Evelyn to witness the incident, that accusations was confirmed by Evelyn, when she testified during the investigation.
After he had a witness, Tomah claimed that he immediately came back to the court and informed his colleagues about the incident, which they later reported to this court for an investigation.
However, Sims and Juror Gbaboh had denied the accusations describing it false and misleading and intended to damage their respective characters. For Cllr. Sims the allegations was “malicious, wicked and is intended to spoil my character.”
“In fact after the hearing I proceeded to the National Labor Court. I did not had any interaction with anybody, lease in question that we were in conversation in which we exchanged contract numbers,”
“For the records, let me say to this court, that i have been in the practice for a little over twenty years, now so, I know the gravity of the offence when it comes to jury tempering, so the allegation by Cllr. Tomah is malicious wicked and is intended to spoil my character,” Sims told the investigation.
Juror Gbaboh however alleged that ” I never interacted with Cllr. Sims, after the case was adjoined, I left the court, I used the left side of the court, got in my vehicle and went to my office to do a report,” the juror told the investigation. According to him, the next day, when he came back to the court, he was surprised for him to be accused by Cllr. Tomah and Evelyn Karyee of talking to Cllr. Sims and taking his number.
He is requesting that all of his calls log from any of the GSM companies to be subpeano, to proof whether he had ever communicated with Cllr. Sims. In the main suit, Intestate Estate is asking the court to oust, eject, and evict defendant (Club Beer Factory) from its property they continue to occupy since May 2022 to the disadvantage of plaintiff. “Levy and institute Compensatory and Punitive Damages against defendant and to further hold them (defendant) liable for illegally occupying and doing business on our property without any color of right, the fear of God and in total disregard to the rule of law,” the lawsuit argue.
According to the suit, the Estate of the late Jeda Tor, genuine owner of Forty-six (46) Acres of land laying and situated in Bushrod Island, Montserrado County, purchased by the late Jeda Tor, their late father and grandfather. The lawsuit claims that during the life of the late Jeda Tor, the original owner of the parcel of land, he leased to Monrovia Breweries, Inc., (MBI), 19.695 acres of land on the 22 Day of May, A. D. 1957, to have and to hold the same said parcel of land pending the expiration of the said Agreement of Lease. which was extended by the Jeda Tor Estate on May 22, 2000.
They alleges that the said Agreement of Lease has expired since May 22, 2022 and brings to closure the Agreement of Lease signed by the late Jeda Tor and subsequently extended in 2000.
The suit says further that since the expiration of the May 22, 2000 agreement of lease, there has been no further extension made for which the defendant continue to illegally occupy its property and continue to do business on the said property to the disadvantage of plaintiff, and the heirs of the late Jeda Tor Estate, “something the late Jeda Tor did not intend would ever happen that such action would be perpetrated against the estate and its heirs.”
The lawsuit contents that the action of defendant has caused and continue to cause untold hardship on the estate and its beneficiaries as the estate’s bills cannot be settled including other financial burden of the Estate.
