Introduction

[1] These are two appeals filed before us by the appellant against the two decisions of the Court of Appeal on 7 November 2012 which allowed the appeals by the respondent against the decisions of the High Court. The appellant was the plaintiff and the respondent was the defendant before the High Court. We shall refer to the parties as they were before the High Court.

[2] There were two separate appeals before the Court of Appeal. We shall refer to the first appeal as the amendment appeal and the second appeal as the merits appeal. The Court of Appeal had allowed the defendants appeal in the amendment appeal against the High Courts dismissal of the defendants application to amend the defence and counterclaim (the first decision). The Court of Appeal also made an order setting aside the High Courts judgment entered against the defendant after full trial in the merits appeal and ordered a new trial of the whole action before another judge (the second decision).

[3] It is to be noted that the defendant did not apply for a stay of the hearing on the merits of the plaintiffs case upon his application to amend the defence and the counterclaim being