Club Beer Factory’s lawyer faces probe

Defense Lawyer Cllr. Albert Sims is accused of jury tampering, but he denies it.

By Lincoln G. Peters

Monrovia, Liberia, February 10, 2025 – One of the lawyers representing Club Beer Factory in the Action of Summary Proceedings to Recover Possession of Real Property case, Cllr. Albert Sims is in trouble with the Civil Law Court here for alleged tempering.

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 worked for many years with Sherman and Sherman Law firm owned by U.S.-sanctioned Cllr. Varney Sherman, before he and his colleagues established Justice Advocate and Partners, Inc., is accused of tempering with one of the male Jurors, Arnold Gbaboh, on February 4, 2025, during the hearing of the case.

 Cllr. Sims was accused by Cllr.  Lawrence Tomah, one of the lawyers for the Estate, and a female Court staffer, Evelyn Karyee.

However, based on the accusations, Judge Scheaplor Dunbar temporarily suspended the hearing, concluded the investigation of the alleged acts, and subsequently reserved his ruling. 

Both Cllr.  Tomah and Evelyn Karyee, in their separate testimonies, claimed that Cllr.  Sims and Juror Gbaboh were seen 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.

Sims admitted that he had given US$10.00 to two of the jurors who had asked him to assist them with transportation.

According to him, the money was not meant to bribe the jury; instead, it was part of his kind gesture to help people.

It may be recalled that Juror Gbaboh, early this year, served on the jury panel that decided the unanimous verdict in favor of Ecobank Liberia Limited in the US$700,000 libel case brought against the bank by Wilmot Smith, a 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 have filed for a new trial.

In the case of the Estate’s jury tampering complaint, Cllr. Tomah and Evelyn Karyee, one of the court staffers, claim that they saw with their eyes Cllr. Sims and Juror Gbaboh exchanged contact numbers right after the court adjourned, and everyone was asked to stand for the jurors to walk outside the courtroom, which said order 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 walked out, but to his dismay and disbelief, he saw Cllr. Albert Sims and Juror Gbaboh exchanged contact numbers right before the court. 

Unfortunately, Tomah claims he never had his phone to photograph the alleged exchanges between Sims and Gbaboh but immediately called Evelyn to witness the incident. Evelyn confirmed the accusation when she testified during the investigation.

After he had a witness, Tomah claimed that he immediately returned to the court and informed his colleagues about the incident, which they later reported to the court for an investigation.

However, Sims and Juror Gbaboh denied the accusation, describing it as false and misleading and intended to damage their respective characters.

Cllr. Sims terms the allegation as “malicious, wicked and is intended to spoil my character.”

“In fact, after the hearing, I proceeded to the National Labor Court.  I did not have any interaction with anybody, least 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 practice for a little over twenty years now, so I know the gravity of the offense 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 responds, “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.”

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 requests that all of his call logs from any of the GSM companies be subpoenaed to prove whether he had ever communicated with Cllr. Sims.

In the main suit, the Intestate Estate is asking the court to oust, eject, and evict the defendant (Club Beer Factory) from the property it has continued to occupy since May 2022 to the disadvantage of the 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 argues.

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, was 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 22 Day of May, A. D. 1957, to have and to hold the same said parcel of land, pending expiration of the said Agreement of Lease, which the Jeda Tor Estate extended on May 22, 2000. 

They allege 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 expiration of the May 22, 2000 agreement of lease, there has been no further extension made for which the defendant continues 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 contends that the defendant’s action has caused and continues to cause untold hardship on the estate and its beneficiaries as the estate’s bills cannot be settled, including other financial burdens of the Estate. Editing by Jonathan Browne