ADOLPH TETTEH ADJEI v. ANAS AREMEYAW ANAS & ANOTHER
2018
COURT OF APPEAL
GHANA
CORAM
- Agnes M. A. Dordzie (Mrs.), J.A. (as she then was) - Presiding
- F. G. Korbieh, J.A.
- I. O. Tanko Amadu, J.A
Areas of Law
- Estoppel
- Res judicata
- Fraud
- Land law
2018
COURT OF APPEAL
GHANA
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
The plaintiff/appellant appealed against the trial High Courts dismissal of his suit on grounds of estoppel per rem judicatam. The appeal court identified multiple errors in the trial court's ruling, particularly in the application of the doctrine of res judicata and the improper reliance on a prior judgment procured allegedly by fraud. The appeal court set aside the ruling and remitted the case for trial to continue by a differently constituted court.
F.G. KORBIEH, J.A.
This is an interlocutory appeal arising from the trial High Court’s dismissal of the plaintiff/appellant’s suit against the defendant/respondents mainly on grounds of estoppel per rem judicatam. The plaintiff therefore mounted this appeal by filing a notice of appeal which has the following grounds of appeal:
i) The ruling is against the weight of the affidavit evidence.
ii) The Court erred in law with the determination that the doctrine of estoppel was applicable on the facts of the case before it.
iii) The Court erred in its determination that the subject land forms part of the judgment by His Lordship K. A. Ofori Atta in Edward Mensah Tawiah and Ewormenyo Ofoli Kwashie v. The Acting Registrar of Lands and the Trustees, East Dadekotopon Development Trust (Suit No. BL.431/2006).
iv) The Court erred in its finding that the Defendants/Applicants obtained the land in issue from the Ataa Tawiah Tsinaiatse and Nuumo Kwashie families.
v) The holding that the Defendants/applicants/Respondents were privies in title of the plaintiffs in Edward Mensah Tawiah and Ewormenyo Ofoli Kwashie v. The Acting Registrar of Lands and the Trustees, East Dadekotopon Development Trust (Suit No. BL.431/2006) is not supported by the facts.
vi) The Court erred in holding that the consent judgment filed on the 20th March, 2015 at the Court of Appeal was not properly procured; thereby upholding the ruling of His Lordship Anthony Kofi Abada delivered on 3rd March, 2016 in Daniel Ofoli Ewernirnyo v. Edward Nsiah Akuetteh (Suit No. BMISC.720/2015)
The relief the plaintiff is seeking from this Court is that the ruling of the trial High Court should be set aside and the trial ordered to continue.
At this juncture it will be expedient to narrate briefly the background facts of the case leading to the appeal. The plaintiff/appellant (hereinafter referred to simply as the plaintiff) sued out a writ from the registry of the Land Court Division of the High Court, Accra on the 8th day of March, 2017 in which he claimed against the defendants/respondents (hereinafter simply referred to as the defendants) a declaration of title to a piece or parcel of land all of whose boundaries were within East La Dadekotopon within the Greater Accra Region, among other reliefs. He averred that he had acquired the land through a sub-lease of 54 years less one day from a sublessor, La Hillsview Development Limited and that he had registered his sublease and been granted a Land Title Ce