Hoff's claim against ex-husband fails

A woman - who was convicted in 2017 of attempted murder of her ex-husband - took him to court in 2018 and demanded around N$1 million in damages, but her claim and appeal have since failed.Susanne Hoff approached the Windhoek High Court on 4 December 2018 and argued that her ex-husband, Egbert Hoff, during their divorce and the signing of an agreement created the impression that horses of the Neu-Heusis stud farm, which were left in her possession, were vaccinated. She apparently found out later that this was not the case.Egbert contested the case and claimed that the issues raised by Susanne were part of the divorce case that had already been settled. The High Court ruled in Egbert&#039;s favour and Susanne appealed this verdict, but the appeal application was rejected in the Supreme Court last Friday.Neu-Heusis stud farmDuring their divorce, Susanne and Egbert agreed that Susanne would retain ownership of all the horses and the genetic lineage of the Neu-Heusis stud farm.Susanne argued that Egbert had expressly assured her that the necessary vaccinations had been administered to the horses between 2011 and 2016. She claims that no vaccinations against rabies, African horse sickness (AHS) or tetanus were administered to the horses.According to her statement, it is on the basis of this misrepresentation - that the horses had been vaccinated - that she accepted the risk of injury, illness and death from natural causes and absolved Egbert of any liability regarding the animals.She further claimed that she had to pay for additional vaccinations to fully immunise the horses and that three horses died because they were not vaccinated against AHS."[Susanne] would not have accepted the risk of profit and loss of the three horses if she had been aware of the fact that all three were insufficiently immunised," court papers read.RulingEgbert argued that the issue about the vaccinations was part of the divorce settlement, and in terms of the agreement, the same issues cannot be the subject of prosecution again at a later stage."It is very clear that [Susanne] attempted to resurrect a cause of action under the guise of a misrepresentation, which in my opinion had previously been dealt with between the parties," Judge Sylvestor Mainga said in his ruling.In November 2011, Susanne attempted to recruit hitmen to kill Egbert and was sentenced to pay a fine of N$30 000 or serve six months in prison or alternatively perform 300 hours of community service.

Hoff's claim against ex-husband fails

Comments

Namibian Sun 2025-03-18

Please login to leave a comment

Hoff's claim against ex-husband fails

Comments

Namibian Sun 2025-03-18

Please login to leave a comment

Login