HUBERT OBUOR vs AFB GHANA LIMITED
2019
HIGH COURT
GHANA
CORAM
- HER LADYSHIP, JUSTICE GIFTY AGYEI ADDO, HIGH COURT JUDGE
Areas of Law
- Civil Procedure
- Contract Law
- Banking and Finance Law
2019
HIGH COURT
GHANA
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
This case involves a dispute between a Plaintiff and a Defendant financial institution over a loan application and subsequent unauthorized salary deductions. The Plaintiff applied for a loan to pay for his Post-Graduate Degree fees, but declined the lower amount approved by the Defendant. Despite attempts to cancel the transaction, the Defendant continued to deduct money from the Plaintiff's salary without crediting his account. The Plaintiff sued for special damages of GH¢15,000.00. The Defendant denied liability, claiming they had informed the Plaintiff about the delay in reversing the transaction due to the third-party payment system. Both parties eventually agreed to settle out of court. A consent judgment was entered, with the Defendant agreeing to pay the Plaintiff GH¢3,000.00 as compensation. The case highlights principles of civil procedure, including the rules governing conditional appearances and the binding nature of consent judgments when parties settle their disputes out of court.
On 14th December, 2017, the Plaintiff instituted this action against the Defendant for the following reliefs as endorsed on the writ of summons: i. Special damages for GH¢ 15, 000. 00 ii.
The gravamen of the Plaintiff’s case is contained in paragraphs 3 to 18 of the statement of claim, a summation of which is as follows: According to the Plaintiff, on or about the 29th June, 2017, he applied for a loan of GH¢1, 500. 00 from the Defendant to top up his money to enable him pay for his fees in a Post-Graduate Degree programme.
Per the Plaintiff, the Defendant called to inform him that very day that it could only approve GH¢1, 100. 00. The Plaintiff says that immediately he received this information, he quickly declined the offer as he had been given some assistance from another financial institution.
According to the Plaintiff, all efforts to reach the Defendant to cancel the initial transaction with them proved futile.
The Plaintiff claims that from July till October 2017, the Defendant deducted GH¢53. 00 from his salary despite its failure to credit his account with the amount he requested.
It is the case of the Plaintiff that he was invited by the Defendant on November 3rd 2017, for a resolution of the matter, at which meeting the Defendant decided to compensate him with GH¢1, 000. 00 for the inconveniences they had caused him.
That he refused to accept this amount and instead demanded that the Defendant pay him an amount of GH¢1, 500. 00, which the Defendant has refused to pay.
The Plaintiff continues that the Defendant proceeded to suspend the payment of his salary for three months, which caused him some social and psychological harm and it is for those reasons he has instituted the present action.
The writ of summons and statement of claim were served on the Defendant through its Secretary on 20th December, 2017, following which the Defendant entered conditional appearance on 22nd December, 2017. However, having failed to set aside the writ within 14 days as required under Order 9 Rule 8 of the High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules, 2004 (C. I. 47), the said appearance ripened into unconditional appearance, per Order 9 Rule 7 (2) of C. I. 47. The Defendant subsequently filed its defence to the action on 27th February, 2018, denying all material averments contained in the statement of claim.
According to the Defendant, they received an application from the Plaintiff for a loan, which was approved.
That the Plaintiff subsequently requested for a re