Bishop Giegere Wenge in his personal capacity as well as official capacity, Head Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of PNG (ELC-PNG) Sir Arnold Amet in his personal capacity and Tonessie Ewabi in his personal capacity v Ricky Mitio in his capacity as a Director and as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Kambang Holdings trading as Lutheran Shipping Ltd And Kambang Holdings trading as Lutheran Shipping Ltd and ELC-PNG Nominees Limited, Trustees Board of Kambang Holdings Limited And Titi Solomon in his capacity as Chairman of the ELC-PNG Nominees Limited, the Trustee Board of Kambang Holdings Ltd And Agua Nombrie in his capacity as Chief Executive Officer of Kambang Holdings Ltd trading as Lutheran Shipping Ltd (2013) SC1234

• Jurisdiction: Papua New Guinea
• Court: Supreme Court
• Date: 05 June 2013
• Citation: (2013) SC1234
• Docket Number: SCA NO 58 OF 2013
• Year: 2013

Full Title: SCA NO 58 OF 2013; Bishop Giegere Wenge in his personal capacity as well as official capacity, Head Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of PNG (ELC-PNG) Sir Arnold Amet in his personal capacity and Tonessie Ewabi in his personal capacity v Ricky Mitio in his capacity as a Director and as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Kambang Holdings trading as Lutheran Shipping Ltd And Kambang Holdings trading as Lutheran Shipping Ltd and ELC-PNG Nominees Limited, Trustees Board of Kambang Holdings Limited And Titi Solomon in his capacity as Chairman of the ELC-PNG Nominees Limited, the Trustee Board of Kambang Holdings Ltd And Agua Nombrie in his capacity as Chief Executive Officer of Kambang Holdings Ltd trading as Lutheran Shipping Ltd (2013) SC1234

Supreme Court: Makail, J

Judgment Delivered: 5 June 2013

SUPREME COURT—PRACTICE & PROCEDURE—Application for stay—Stay of proceedings and interim restraining order pending appeal—Appeal against interim restraining order—Company dispute—Dispute over directorship, chairmanship and management—Removal of directors and suspension of chief executive officer—Exercise of discretion—Supreme Court Act—s4(3)(b)(ii) & s19.

Cases cited:

Gary McHardy v Prosec Security and Communication Ltd [2000] PNGLR 279; Paul Paraka v Eastern Highlands Provincial Government (2005) SC809; Fulleborn Plantations Ltd v Pepi Kimas (2007) N3209

RULING ON APPLICATION FOR STAY

05th June, 2013

1. MAKAIL, J: The appellants have appealed against a decision of the National Court of 17th May 2013 which, among others restrained them from performing functions of the Board of Kambang Holdings Limited the second respondent. In the interim, they apply to stay the proceedings and decision pending the determination of the appeal pursuant to s19 of the Supreme Court Act.

2. According to the first appellant’s two affidavits, the second respondent operates a shipping business. A dispute arose between the parties in relation to its control at the board and management level. It started off as an industrial dispute between the management and staff under the leadership of the fifth respondent as chief executive officer in relation to better working conditions. As a result of this dispute, the fifth respondent was said to have been suspended pursuant to a decision of the Church Council at the November 2011 Goroka Church Synod but remained in office. The unresolved dispute led to a strike action taken by the staff against the management. This saw the operations of the second respondent come to a stand still for two weeks in October 2012 and the ramifications were catastrophic. Passengers and cargoes were left stranded at various ports serviced by the second respondent’s ships in the Momase region...