2015
COURT OF APPEAL
GHANA
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
The 5th defendant/applicant sought to relist its appeal after being struck out for non-compliance, providing contradictory reasons for the lapse and affirming the land in question as a national asset. The plaintiff/respondent contested the application’s competence, citing repeated lapses and non-disclosure of a solicitor’s license number. The court reviewed multiple precedents and statutory requirements, ultimately restoring the appeal but denying other reliefs sought. The court emphasized the importance of dealing with each case on its merits and ruled that lawyer’s mistakes should not penalize the client. Non-disclosure issues were remedied by subsequent license production.
AYEBI, J. A: 1. On 17/02/2015, this court struck out the appeal of the 5th defendant/applicant herein for non-compliance with rule 20 (1) of the Court of Appeal Rules, 1997 (C. I. 19) as amended.
The present motion the subject-matter of this ruling filed on 17/02/15 prayed for three reliefs namely: (a)Leave to relist the Notice of Appeal (c)Grant stay of execution pending the appeal.
Attached to motion as Exhibit C. B. 5 is the proposed written submission erroneously described as the “statement of case” in this court.
2. The subject-matter of the suit itself is a parcel of land acquired for and possessed by the 5th defendant/appellant/applicant(hereinafter called applicant) over a century now.
The motion was filed by Nana Ato Dadzie Esquire.
In the affidavit in support of the motion, the deponent averred that Nana Ato Dadzie actually put the written submission together but because he had to travel outside the country at a very short notice, he could not file or caused to be filed the written submission himself.
3. Thereafter, the deponent gave various reasons, which reasons were contradictory of each other, why the chambers could not cause the written submission to be filed.
The deponent also averred to the fact that the subject-matter of the suit is a national asset for which reason the applicant should be given hearing of the appeal on the merits.
Averring that triable issues have been raised in the Notice of Appeal, the deponent demonstrated the basis of his belief of the success of the appeal.
4. On 25/02/15, the plaintiff/respondent/respondent (hereinafter called the respondent) filed an affidavit in opposition.
The respondent vehemently opposed the application for the following reasons: -(i) The instant application is incompetent because a similar application filed and merely withdrawn or discontinued by a notice without a court order or pronouncement is deemed to be subsisting.
ii) In the absence of an appeal pending the prayers for leave to file written submission (statement of case) and an order staying execution of the judgment are misconceived.
iii) The reasons given by the applicant for its failure to comply with the rules of court apart from not being cogent, are self-created lapses which if indulged would lead to grave injustice and bring the administration of justice to a halt.
iv) To the extent that the application does not disclose a valid and subsisting solicitor’s Licence Number, the application is incompetent and void ab