HAUSBAUER LTD. VS MARIAN MANSOH & ANOR
2023
HIGH COURT
GHANA
CORAM
- HIS LORDSHIP EMMANUEL AMO YARTEY (J)
Areas of Law
- Civil Procedure
- Property and Real Estate Law
- Equity and Trusts
2023
HIGH COURT
GHANA
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
This High Court ruling, delivered by His Lordship Emmanuel Amo Yartey (J), addresses an application by Hausbauer Limited for interlocutory injunctive relief over two plots within its 220‑acre estate at Nmai Dzorn, Accra. Hausbauer says it acquired the larger tract from the Nungua Stool in 1994, recorded at the Lands Commission and registered at the Land Title Registry, and produced judgments affirming title. It alleges trespass and forcible development by defendants on Plot A and attempted development on Plot B, while defendants—led by the 1st Defendant—claim a 2001 purchase, long occupation, and recent trespass and damage by plaintiff’s agents. Applying Order 25 of C.I. 47 and the American Cyanamid approach, and noting Brown v Quarshigah’s indefeasible registered title, the court declined to opine on merits but preserved the status quo: restraining further development on Plot A and any development on Plot B, ordering expeditious trial, with no order as to costs.
Per the instant Application dated the 5th day of May, 2023, the Plaintiff/Applicant is seeking an order of Interlocutory Injunction restraining the Defendants, their agents, workmen, assigns, privies and all those claiming through them or otherwise howsoever from interfering with the land in dispute pending the final determination of the suit.
The nucleus of the Application is captured in the Affidavit attached to the Application deposed to by Emelia Naa Adjorkor McQuaye. The Affidavit reads:
“I, Emelia Naa Adjorkor McQuaye of Accra, make oath and say as follows:
1. That I am the deponent herein.
2. I am the Managing Director of the Plaintiff Company and I depose to this affidavit on behalf of the Company on matters that have come to my knowledge in the course of my duties.
3. That the Plaintiff instituted a Writ from the Registry of this Court against the Defendants for some reliefs and Counsel shall seek leave of the Court to rely on it in arguing this motion.
4. Plaintiff is a Company registered under the laws of Ghana.
5. The Defendants are trespassers on a portion of Plaintiff’s Land.
6. The Plaintiff is the owner of a piece of land in extent 220.0 acres more or less lying at Nmai Dzorn (North Nungua), Accra.
7. The Plaintiff acquired its larger land in extent 220 acres more or less from the Nungua Stool in 1994. See Exhibit HBL.
8. The land that was granted to the Plaintiff formed part of Nungua
Stool ancestral land and it was the people of Nungua who established the settlement of Nmai Dzorn and appointed a Chief over it. See Exhibit HBL 1.
9. The particular lands in dispute forms part of the larger land acquired in 1994 by the Plaintiff.
10. The Plaintiff’s lease was documented in 1994 at the Lands Commission with No. AR/NU/175B/94.
11. Hausbauer Limited was able to register its title in the land at the Land Title Registry and was issued with Certificate No. TD0070 in 1995. See Exhibit HBL 2.
12. When the Plaintiff acquired the land in 1994, it was covered with shrubs and bushes and the surveyors had to clear all that before they could demarcate it.
13. The Nungua Stool granted to Hausbauer Limited vacant possession of the land with no one in sight.
14. The Company built a site office and a security post on the land and started demarcating the land.
15. Due to interferences of developers in the area with the Plaintiff’s land, it got caretakers to watch over it.
16. Hausbauer Limited, has made several grants of port