Bernard Turkson v. Nana Kwadwo Adjei
2015
COURT OF APPEAL
GHANA
CORAM
- Owusu M., (Presiding)
- Acquaye, J.A.
- Dzamefe, J.A.
Areas of Law
- Civil Procedure
- Evidence Law
2015
COURT OF APPEAL
GHANA
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
The High Court awarded judgment in favor of the plaintiff for GH¢40,000 with interest, which the defendant appealed on grounds of unsupported evidence, incorrect findings, and improper burden of proof. The plaintiff claimed the amount was financial assistance, while the defendant argued it was part of a Forex Bureau license arrangement. The Court of Appeal upheld the High Court's judgment, finding the evidence supported the plaintiff's claims and the burden of proof was correctly applied throughout the case. Multiple legal principles regarding civil procedure and evidence law were reiterated, and several precedents were considered.
MARIAMA OWUSU, J.A: On 13-6-2011, the High Court, Accra, gave judgment in favour of the plaintiff against defendant for the recovery of the sum of GH¢40,000 with interest from 1st January, 2008 till date of final payment.
Dissatisfied with the decision of the High Court, the defendant appealed to the Court of Appeal on the following grounds:
a. That the evidence on record cannot support the judgment of the trial High Court.
b. The trial High Court made a wrong finding of fact that the forty thousand Ghana cedis cheque issued by the plaintiff to the defendant was the financial assistance offered by the plaintiff to the defendant.
c. Additional grounds of appeal will be filed on receipt of the record of proceedings.
On 14-2-2014, the defendant filed additional ground of appeal pursuant to leave granted by this court.
It reads as follows: “That the trial High Court wrongly in law shifted the burden of proof from the plaintiff to the defendant and in consequence thereof, made conclusions in favour of the plaintiff against the defendant that were not borne out by the evidence of the plaintiff thereby occasioning a gross miscarriage of justice to the defendant/appellant” Before dealing with the arguments advanced in support and against this appeal, I will give a brief background of the case.
The plaintiff/respondent herein referred to as plaintiff by his writ of summons claims:
i. Recovery of the sum of forty thousand Ghana cedis (GH¢40,000.00) being financial assistance requested by defendant from plaintiff.
ii.
Interest on the said amount from November 2007 till date of final payment.
iii.
Cost.
In the nine (9) paragraph statement of claim which accompanied the writ of summons, the plaintiff averred that sometime in 2007, the defendant requested financial assistance from him to the tune of GH¢40,000.00.
The plaintiff averred further that, the defendant assured him that he would repay the amount within two (2) weeks.
It is the case of the plaintiff that, he issued a cheque of GH¢40,000.00 from his company account which the defendant withdrew at Ecobank, Tema Branch.
Plaintiff concluded that, the defendant has failed/refused to pay the amount despite repeated demands hence this action.
On receipt of plaintiff’s writ of summons and statement of claim, the defendant reacted by filing his statement of defence denying plaintiff’s claim.
In particular, the defendant averred that sometime in 2007, the plaintiff came to his office and expressed his in