ADWOA HARRIS WIAFE & ANOR vrs EMMANUEL SARFO WIAFE& ANOR

INTRODUCTION

[1]. This appeal arises from a property dispute that traces back to the dissolution of a marriage in the United States. Upon obtaining their divorce, the 1st Plaintiff (now Appellant), who remained resident abroad, sought to exclude the 1st Defendant (now Respondent) from exercising any interest in a matrimonial property located at Plot No. 9, Benjin Street, East Legon, Accra. In response, the Respondent instituted suit against the Appellant in the High Court (Suit No. BFA 29/2011), which culminated in a judgment in November 2014

declaring that both parties held proprietary interests in the disputed property. The High Court further directed that the property be sold and the proceeds shared among the parties and their child, subject to their right of first purchase.

[2]. Subsequent enforcement steps—particularly, an order to break into the property to facilitate its sale—proved contentious, leading the Appellant, among other things, to file numerous applications aimed at reversing or staying execution of that order. When these

applications were consistently dismissed, the Appellant initiated a fresh suit (Suit No. GJ/1245/2019) in which she sought, in essence, the same reliefs previously disallowed. The Respondent then applied to strike out the new suit on grounds that it was frivolous, vexatious, and an abuse of the court’s process. The High Court granted that application in a Ruling dated 8th June, 2020 prompting the present appeal before this Court.

SUMMARY OF HIGH COURT DECISION SUBJECT MATTER OF INSTANT APPEAL

[3]. In the High Court below, the Respondent applied to strike out the pleadings, invoking Order 11 Rule 18(1)(b) and (d) of the High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules, 2004 (C.I. 47) on the basis that the action was frivolous, vexatious, or otherwise an abuse of the Court’s process. The Respondent asserted that the matters in controversy had already been conclusively determined in a prior suit, namely SUIT NO. BFA29/2011: EMMANUEL SARFO WIAFE V ADWOA HARRIS WIAFE, and its ensuing applications and judgments, such that the Plaintiffs’ new action effectively relitigated issues already resolved. [4]. Her Ladyship Justice Jennifer Abena Dadzie dismissed the Plaintiffs’ preliminary objections regarding the alleged nonidentification of paragraphs said to be scandalous or vexatious, explaining that the Respondent principal contention was that the entire amended Statement of Claim was precluded by the o