ASAFO ASAMOAH-MONO v. M & K (GHANA) LTD & ANOTHER
2021
COURT OF APPEAL
GHANA
CORAM
- LAWRENCE L. MENSAH J. A. (PRESIDING)
- BAFFOUR J.A.
- NOVISI ARYENE (MRS) J.A
Areas of Law
- Property and Real Estate Law
- Evidence Law
- Civil Procedure
- Tort Law
2021
COURT OF APPEAL
GHANA
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
On appeal from the High Court in Accra, the Court of Appeal (per Baffour J.A., with Mensah J.A. presiding and Aryene J.A.) reviewed a land dispute concerning a 0.18 acre parcel at South Liberia Road near Asylum Down. The Appellant traced title via a 21 July 2004 lease and 31 July 2009 conveyance from Nii Adama Mensah, Aku Cofie and Oto Abola, and presented a registered land certificate (Exh “B”). The 1st Respondent placed a forty‑footer container on the site as part of corporate social responsibility and gave the keys to the 2nd Respondent, Edmund Bampoe, who claimed ancestral ownership through W.E. Saka Pappoe and a 2002 confirmatory grant from the Gbese stool. The trial judge dismissed the Appellant’s claim but, in the final judgment, relied on documents previously rejected at trial. The Court of Appeal held that reliance on unfiled, unserved documents, without opportunity for cross‑examination, was a grievous error; excluding those documents, the Appellant’s registered title under section 43 of PNDCL 152 prevailed, and trespass was established.
Baffour J.A:
INTRODUCTION
This appeal raises substantial points of law in so far as documents that were rejected by the trial court as inadmissible, the same Judge makes a volte face and relies on the documents that were rejected to ground her decision in the final judgment of the court. Besides, there is also the fascinating issue of leave granted to a party to file amended statement of defence, which said pleading could not have contained documents and yet documents attached to a witness statement, which was sighted by the other parties for the first time during trial, such documents became the basis of anchoring a decision by a Judge. The appropriateness of such decisions are before the court for determination.
FACTS
Plaintiff/Appellant (hereinafter called “the Appellant”) claiming to be the owner of a piece of land measuring 0.18 acre at the South Liberia Road, issued a writ at the High Court against the Defendants/Respondents (hereinafter called “the Respondents”) claiming the following reliefs; an order for a declaration of title to land, trespass, an order for removal of all structures on the land and damages for trespass. In the statement of claim, Appellant asserted legal ownership of the land, which he described as being at Asylum Down by virtue of a lease of 21st July, 2004 and a conveyance of 31st July, 2009 from Nii Adama Mensah, Aku Cofie and Oto Abola, as vendors of the land. To Appellant he followed up the lease and the conveyance granted him with a title registration for which he tendered the title certificate as Exh “B”. That the 1st Respondent has trespassed on the land by placing a forty-footer container by roofing it with lock and key and handed over the keys to 2nd Respondent, who parade himself as the owner of the land. And that the works done on the land was done without his consent. To Appellant the acts constitutes trespass with structures having been constructed on the land but the Respondents had refused to remove the structures despite demand on them to do so and therefore sought the reliefs in the endorsement on the writ.
Respondents denied the claims of the Appellant in their respective statements of defence. For the 1st Respondent, it noted that it went to the neighbourhood of the res litiga, as part of its corporate social responsibility where it operates its business by giving the area a face lift such as asphalting of the roads, fixing houses and renovating broken down kiosks. And that the owners of the kiosks consen