Monrovia— The Supreme Court of Liberia has dismissed an appeal in the long-running legal dispute involving Urban Marketing Group, through its Chief Executive Officer Allen R. Brown, and the interests of the late John Hilary Tubman, clearing the way for the lower court to resume jurisdiction and enforce its November 28, 2025 judgment.
By Gerald C. Koinyeneh
In a judgment handed down on Friday, August 28, the Supreme Court ruled that the respondents failed to take mandatory steps required to perfect their appeal, including filing the required appeal bond and serving and filing a notice of completion of appeal.
The Court consequently granted the motion to dismiss the appeal and ordered that the matter be returned to the court below for enforcement.
The ruling was handed down during the Court’s March Term 2026, with Chief Justice Yamie Quiqui Gbeisay, Sr., and Associate Justices Jamesetta H. Wolokolie, Yussif D. Kaba, Caineh D. Clinton-Johnson, and Boakai N. Kanneh participating.
According to the judgment, Liberia’s Civil Procedure Law provides for dismissal of an appeal when an appellant fails to comply with mandatory requirements governing appeals.
The Court emphasized that once a bill of exceptions has been signed, the case is removed from the trial court’s jurisdiction, except for limited ministerial matters such as approving an appeal bond or entertaining a challenge.
However, the Court found that the respondents failed to file the required appeal bond and did not serve and file the notice of completion of appeal.
The failure, the Court ruled, constituted sufficient legal grounds to dismiss the appeal.
“Wherefore, and in view of the foregoing, the motion to dismiss the respondent’s appeal is granted, and the appeal is ordered dismissed as a matter of law,” the Court ruled.
The Clerk of the Supreme Court was subsequently ordered to issue a mandate to the court below, directing the presiding judge to resume jurisdiction and give effect to the judgment.
Costs were also ruled against the respondents.
A Procedural Victory for Brown
For Brown and Urban Marketing Group, the ruling removes the latest appellate obstacle to enforcement of the lower court’s judgment.
Importantly, the Supreme Court’s latest decision was procedural. The Court did not reconsider the underlying merits of the November 28, 2025 judgment or rule that the lower court’s decision was erroneous.
Instead, the Court determined that the appeal could not proceed because the parties seeking appellate review failed to satisfy mandatory requirements for perfecting the appeal.
The consequence is that the lower court’s judgment remains standing and the matter can now proceed to the enforcement stage.
The dispute has its roots in a Joint Venture Agreement between Urban Marketing Group and the interests of the late John Hilary Tubman.
The disagreement eventually proceeded to arbitration, where an arbitral tribunal ruled in favor of Tubman. The trial court subsequently confirmed the arbitration award.
Urban Marketing challenged the arbitration outcome, arguing, among other things, that the arbitral tribunal had exceeded its authority.
The dispute eventually reached the Supreme Court, turning the case into a significant test of the enforceability of arbitration agreements and awards in Liberia.
Supreme Court’s Earlier Ruling
In a February 2024 decision, the Supreme Court upheld the lower court’s action and found that Urban Marketing had failed to meet the legal threshold required to vacate the arbitration award under Section 64.11(1) of the Civil Procedure Law.
The Court’s earlier decision also underscored the principle of contractual sanctity, with the Judiciary emphasizing the constitutional protection afforded to contractual obligations under Article 25 of the Liberian Constitution.
The Supreme Court has described the sanctity of contracts as important to legal and economic stability, predictability, and confidence in commercial transactions.
The 2024 ruling, however, did not bring the dispute to an immediate end.
Urban Marketing later sought re-argument before the Supreme Court. The petition was heard on March 25, 2025, but the Court rejected the effort in May 2025.
With the substantive arbitration challenge having already received consideration at the highest level of Liberia’s judicial system, subsequent proceedings increasingly focused on enforcement, possession, property interests, and procedural questions surrounding the parties’ competing claims.
Dispute Escalates
The legal battle became more contentious in 2025, when representatives of the Tubman Estate initiated separate criminal proceedings against Brown and others over alleged conduct involving property in Sinkor.
A writ of arrest was issued in September 2025, with allegations reportedly including criminal trespass, criminal mischief, felonious restraint, criminal conspiracy, and criminal facilitation.
Those allegations were contested and remain distinct from the civil and commercial proceedings addressed in the Supreme Court’s latest ruling.
In January 2026, a separate criminal case involving Brown was dismissed with prejudice by the Monrovia City Magisterial Court.
Judge L. Ben Barco, in dismissing the charges, reportedly cautioned that the court should not be used to harass a defendant under the guise of seeking justice.
The separate criminal proceedings should not, however, be conflated with the Supreme Court appeal decided on August 28.
What the Ruling Means
The immediate effect of the Supreme Court’s decision is to return the case to the trial court.
With the appeal dismissed, the lower court is no longer constrained by the pending appellate proceeding and has been expressly instructed by the Supreme Court to resume jurisdiction and give effect to its November 28, 2025 judgment.
The ruling does not constitute a new finding of criminal liability against Brown, nor does it independently resolve every property or commercial dispute between Urban Marketing and the Tubman interests.
Rather, it removes a procedural barrier that had prevented enforcement of the lower court’s judgment.
The Supreme Court’s mandate now shifts responsibility back to the trial court, where implementation of the judgment is expected to proceed.
For Brown and Urban Marketing, the latest development therefore changes the legal landscape significantly. The question is no longer whether the particular appeal will be heard, but how the judgment already entered by the lower court will be implemented.
The precise consequences will depend on the terms of the November 28, 2025 judgment and the property, assets, rights, or obligations covered by that decision.
Still, the latest ruling marks another significant chapter in a dispute that has traversed commercial negotiations, arbitration, trial-court proceedings, Supreme Court litigation, property-related confrontations, and separate criminal proceedings.
For now, the Supreme Court has closed the latest appellate route—not by overturning the lower court’s judgment, but by ruling that the appeal was not properly perfected under Liberian law.
The mandate now returns the matter to the trial court for enforcement.
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