Published: July 23, 2026
MONROVIA — A Supreme Court justice has refused to disturb a lower court decision that threw out a jury verdict against Nohad M. Hage, leaving in place an order that the disputed property fraud case be tried all over again.
Associate Justice Yussif Kaba, presiding in chambers, denied a petition for a writ of prohibition filed by Oumou Sirleaf Hage, Bashir Millard Hage and Racquel Milad Hage in a ruling handed down July 20. The three had asked the high court to overturn Civil Law Court Judge Peter Gbeneweleh’s decision setting aside a unanimous jury verdict they had won against Nohad Hage.
Kaba held that Gbeneweleh acted within his authority. A trial judge presiding over a jury trial in a civil case, he said, has statutory power to set aside a verdict that runs contrary to the weight of the evidence, and the Supreme Court will review that decision only where a judge is shown to have abused his discretion.
“This discretionary authority is conferred by the statute and the exercise of it is reviewable by the Supreme Court only upon a showing that the trial judge abused that discretion,” Kaba said in his ruling.
The justice noted that a motion for a new trial turns on a question of law, and that granting or denying such a motion rests squarely with the trial court. Absent a showing of abuse, he said, the motion is properly denied.
Liberia’s civil procedure law allows a court, on the motion of any party, to set aside a verdict and order a new trial where the verdict is contrary to the weight of the evidence or where the interest of justice requires it. Such a motion must be filed within four days of the verdict, and the statute permits no extension of that period.
Applying that standard, Kaba found that Gbeneweleh’s order for a new trial fell within the trial judge’s authority and amounted to neither the application of an improper rule of law nor an excess of jurisdiction, rejecting the argument advanced by the petitioners’ counsel, Cllr. Arthur Johnson.
Johnson took exception to the ruling and announced an appeal to the full bench of the Supreme Court.
Counsel for Nohad Hage, Cllr. Mark M. M. Marvey, said the appeal did not trouble his client, contending that the facts of the case would not change.
The dispute traces to Gbeneweleh’s Nov. 27, 2025 ruling at the Sixth Judicial Circuit Court in Montserrado County, where he set aside the jury’s unanimous verdict and ordered a retrial. The judge found that Oumou Sirleaf Hage, Bashir Millard Hage and Racquel Milad Hage had failed to produce the clear and convincing evidence needed to establish their claim that Nohad Hage committed fraud involving three disputed properties.
Mere allegations do not amount to proof, Gbeneweleh said at the time, holding that accusations of fraud must rest on solid and compelling evidence and that the objectors had not met that burden. The verdict, he ruled, was contrary to the weight of the evidence and should not have been allowed to stand.
Discussion about this post