Court sets Tuesday for hearing in UAP insurance case

JUBA – The High Court in Juba has deferred the preliminary hearing in a case between UAP Insurance Company and a group of dismissed national staff until Tuesday next week.

Marko Reech, a lawyer representing the former employees, said the presiding Judge Francis Amum framed the issues and then adjourned the hearing under Section 78 of the Code of Civil Procedure Act, 2007.

“Today’s session was for the framing of issues and the hearing. We went ahead with the issues, and the hearing was postponed until the 21st of this month,” Reech said.

The upcoming court session will focus on the presentation of evidence.

“The issues that were framed by the judge were about termination and about the contract. About the whole case, where each party will be able to present its case in the statement to prove any allegation in that matter, to prove it. Basically, the next session will be the hearing,” he added.

According to Section 78 of the 2007 Act: “From the examination of parties and their pleadings, the Court shall frame and record: (a) the material facts upon which the parties are agreed; (b) the questions of law or fact upon which the parties are at variance; and, (c) a note of the evidence they intend to introduce to establish questions of fact which may be in issue.”

The dispute arose in October last year when national employees at UAP staged a sit-in strike to protest alleged unequal treatment and lower wages compared to their foreign expatriate colleagues.

UAP subsequently dismissed at least ten national staff, despite an order from the Ministry of Labor for their reinstatement.

This prompted the UAP National Staff Association (UNSA) to file a lawsuit against the insurance company.