GH - GOODWILL INTERNATIONAL GROUP v. HARRISON ADOM WOLANYO

R U L I N G

This ruling is in respect of an application by the Plaintiff for summary judgment pursuant to Order 14, Rule 1 of the High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules, 2004 (C.I. 47).

Order 14, Rule 1 states as follows:

“Where in an action a Defendant has been served with a Statement of Claim and has filed appearance, the Plaintiff may on notice apply to the Court for judgment against the Defendant on the ground that the Defendant has no defence to a claim included in the writ, or to a particular part of such a claim, or that the Defendant has no defence to such a claim or part of a claim except as to the amount of any damages claimed.”

It is also provided in Rule 2 of Order 14 that in an application for summary judgment the Plaintiff has to set out the relief he seeks in the notice of the application. Then in the affidavit in support of the application the Plaintiff has to verify the facts on which the relevant claim or part of a claim is based, and state that in his belief there is no defence to that claim or part of a claim, or no defence except as to the amount of any damages claimed.

In the instant application, the Plaintiff rightfully set out the reliefs he seeks as follows:

a) Recovery of GH¢70,000.00 being the outstanding amount;

b) Interest on the outstanding amount at the commercial bank rate from August, 2011 till the date of full and final payment;

c) General damages;

d) Costs on a full indemnity basis.

The Plaintiff in an affidavit sworn to by one Eva Jackson-Etuah, its solicitor, tries to verify the facts the Plaintiff relies on. The Plaintiff states that somewhere in 2011, the Defendant represented to the Plaintiff that he had imported some roofing sheets from China which were on the high seas and requested the Plaintiff to advance payments in respect of the roofing sheets to him. The Plaintiff issued to Defendant, a Zenith Bank (Ghana) Limited cheque valued GH¢60,000.00 in favour of the Defendant and the latter issued a receipt to the Plaintiff. The Plaintiff exhibited copies of both the cheque and the receipt as Exhibits EJE1 and EJE2 respectively.

The Plaintiff states further that upon the request of the Defendant again it issued a UT Bank cheque dated 25th August, 2011 for an amount of GH¢10,000.00 to the Defendant to assist the Defendant clear the roofing sheets. Again the Plaintiff exhibited a copy of the UT Bank cheque as Exhibit EJE3.

After these advanced payments, Plaintiff states that the Defendant failed to supply the Pl