Leauvaa people residing on disputed land belonging to Afega cannot be evicted until an appeal by Leauvaa is heard before the Land Titles and Titles Appeals Court.

The Court of Appeal handed down its decision on an appeal by Maulolo Tavita Amosa and others on behalf of the Alii Ma Faipule of Afega last Thursday. The appeal was against the decision of the Supreme Court that stayed the orders of the Lands Titles Court to evict the people of Leauvaa from the disputed lands.

The court in its ruling said that for more than 70 years, litigation about the dispute has been before the courts set up under the Samoan Land and Titles Protection Ordinance 1934, the Land and Titles Act 1981 ("LTA 1981"), the Land and Titles Act 2020 and Part IX of the Constitution of Samoa as it was before amendments to the Constitution made in February this year together with the Land and Titles Act 2020.

According to the background of the case, in December 2018, Afega obtained an eviction order in the Land and Titles Court against 18 people of Leauva'a who were occupying the disputed land. An appeal against that decision was later dealt with by the Land and Titles High Court. The judgment of that Court was delivered on 24 March 2023. It upheld the 2018 decision. Leauva'a sought to challenge this decision in the Land and Titles Court of Appeal and Review but was not able to prosecute its appeal as that Court had not been constituted. And for associated jurisdictional reasons, Leauva'a was not able to obtain a stay of the 2018 and 2023 judgments.

On 8 March 2024, the Land and Titles First Court ordered the eviction of the Leauva'a people occupying the disputed land. Afega tried to enforce this eviction directly and by physical means and did so without obtaining enforcement orders as provided for in s 59 of the Land and Titles Act 2020.

These attempts resulted in proceedings in the Supreme Court in which Leauva'a sought relief by way of interim injunction preventing the evictions. This application was heard urgently by the Chief Justice Satiu Simativa Perese on 4 April 2024. After the hearing, and pending a reasoned decision on the application, he granted an interim injunction preventing what had been planned to be a mass eviction the following day.

In the 9 April judgment, the Chief Justice was required to deal with arguments that the  Supreme Court was not entitled to grant such relief – arguments that raised constitutional and jurisdictional issues of considerable significance and difficulty. These issues were addressed in detail in September 2024 before a bench of the Supreme Court consisting of CJ Perese and Justice Tuatagaloa and Young JJ, They delivered a judgment on 11 October 2024 which stayed execution of the judgments of the Land and Titles Court in 2018, the Land and Titles High Court of 24 March 2023 and the Land and Titles First Court of 8 March 2024, pending the establishment of the Land and Titles Court of Appeal and Review and its determination of Leauva'a' s appeal.

The Supreme Court enjoined Afega from taking steps to evict those occupying the disputed land unless or until eviction orders are obtained in the District Court or Supreme Court under section 59 of the Land and Titles Act 2020.

Afega appealed against both the 9 April and 11 October 2024 judgments. The appeal against the 9 April judgment was filed before the September hearing before the Full Court. Afega abandoned the appeal against the 11 October 2024 judgment but proceeded with its appeal against the 9 April judgment.

Afega's concern was with comments made by the Chief Justice in his 9 April judgment to the effect that the judgment of the Land and Titles Court of December 2018 was unacceptably inconsistent with an earlier judgment of the appellate division of the Land Titles Court delivered on 15 September 2017 which had set aside an earlier eviction order against Leauva’a.