ELIZABETH TEI & ORS VS EMMANUEL AYITEY SOWAH & ANOR
2018
HIGH COURT
GHANA
CORAM
- HIS LORDSHIP K. A. GYIMAH
Areas of Law
- Civil Procedure
- Evidence Law
- Property and Real Estate Law
2018
HIGH COURT
GHANA
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
This High Court judgment concerns a collateral action by the administrators of the estate of David Tei George seeking to set aside a 30 November 2009 Circuit Court judgment in Accra (Emmanuel Ayitey Sowah & another v. Elizabeth Amaney Teye) on grounds of fraud. The plaintiffs alleged that the tenancy agreement relied on in the earlier case was fabricated with cut-and-paste signatures. Reiterating that fraud in civil proceedings must be proved beyond reasonable doubt under section 13(1) of the Evidence Act and Supreme Court precedent, the court held that a fraud action must be confined strictly to the fraud allegation and must show fraud going to the central issue such that, if excised, the judgment cannot stand. The court declined to re-open the prior suit’s merits, found the tenancy agreement had already been assessed and deemed valid by the Circuit Court, determined no fraud was proven, dismissed the claim, and awarded costs of GH5,000 to the defendants.
Introduction
On 30th November 2009, the Circuit Court sitting in Accra presided over by Her Honour Mrs. Patience Mills Tetteh (as she then was) gave judgment in Suit No. C1/17/08; Emmanuel Ayitey Sowah & anor v. Elizabeth Amaney Teye where she declared on page 7 of the judgment that the plaintiffs (defendants in this suit) are absolute owners of the property in dispute.
The said judgment was admitted in evidence in this suit as exhibit C. The said Elizabeth Ayitey Sowah is the predecessor in title of the plaintiffs in this suit.
In arriving at her decision, the learned judge considered two main documents – a tenancy agreement between Margaret Abam and D. Tei George (which was tendered in evidence in this suit by the plaintiffs as exhibit D and by the defendants as exhibit 3) and a receipt from Margaret Abam to D. Tei George (which was also tendered in evidence in this case by the plaintiffs as exhibit B and the defendants as exhibit 4). The learned judge in analysing the said documents, noted at page 6 of the judgment as follows: “These two documents indicate that there was a purported sale of land first in August 1994 before the tenancy agreement in February 1995. Whether the sale went through or not, the two documents cannot refer to the same and one property.
There is a land without a building and there is another land with an uncompleted building.
The subject matter of this suit is the land with the uncompleted building.
It makes sense that the land with the uncompleted building is the one the tenancy agreement is based on and since the tenancy agreement incorporated the proceeds from the purported land sale, no land was actually sold to defendant’s husband. ”Plaintiffs’ Case It must be noted that this judgment was not appealed against. However, on 2nd June 2010, the plaintiffs suing as the administrators of the estate of David Tei George(deceased) issued a writ of summons claiming the following reliefs against the defendants: i. Declaration that the judgment of the Circuit Court, Accra dated 30th day of November 2009 in Suit No. C1/53/09; Emmanuel Ayitey Sowah & anor.
vs. Elizabeth Amaney Teye was obtained by fraud.
An order to set aside the said judgment dated 30th November 2009. iii.
An order of perpetual injunction to restrain the defendants by themselves, assigns, workmen, agents, servants or otherwise howsoever from entering unto the plaintiff’s land and from interfering with the plaintiff’s interest in the said land.
It is the plaintif