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JUDGMENT
The present suit admits of no complexities whatsoever. The Plaintiff in its amended writ of summons asks for the underlisted reliefs:
a. Declaration that the Defendant has breached the terms of the Agreement between the Plaintiff and the Defendant.
b. An order for the payment of the Fifty Thousand United States Dollars (US$50,000.00) or in the alternative, an order for specific performance.
c. Interest on the Fifty Thousand Dollars from June 2015 till date of final payment.
d. Costs including legal fees.
e. Any other order as the Court deems fit.
The Plaintiff’s claim is a simple one. It entered into an Agreement with the Defendant for the purchase of a four bedroom House at a place known as Kingsville, Oyarifa in Accra. This house was priced at Fifty Thousand Dollars and Plaintiff says he paid the full purchase price as requested.
The Defendant however failed to deliver up the property as promised in November of 2016.
Following this failure, the Defendant promised a new delivery date in 2017 and again in 2018 but failed to deliver on the respective dates.
Plaintiff’s case is that he followed up on the progress of his purchase in 2019 and 2022 but to no avail. He was therefore compelled to instruct his solicitors to write to the Defendant, demanding for the delivery of the property at Oyarifa or a refund of the Fifty Thousand United States Dollars (US$50,000.00) but the Defendant has failed to hand over the property or refund the money paid to it.
The Defendant also filed a seven paragraph Statement of Defence in which it denied the claims of the Plaintiff outright. It pleaded that it did not owe the Plaintiff any monies, hence the Plaintiff was not entitled to its reliefs. The Defendant further pleaded the defence of limitation and stated that the Plaintiff’s action was statute barred.
In his reply to the Statement of Defence, the Plaintiff denied that the action was statute barred. He pleaded that the Defendant, upon failure to deliver the property renegotiated with him to deliver a four bedroom house at Kings City, Fetteh by January 31st, 2018. For this reason, his action could not be statute barred.
The Law is settled that in civil trials, the burden of proof lay on the one who must succeed in the action. See Ackah v Pergah Transport Ltd & Ors [2010] SCGLR 728,
Under Section 11 (1) and (4) of the Evidence Act, 1975 NRCD 323 the duty or obligation or the burden of producing evidence was on the Party against whom a