KOFI NTIM MANU & ANOR VRS SAMUEL OTU BOATENG

INTRODUCTION

[1] My Lords, this appeal challenges the Ruling of the High Court, Accra (General Jurisdiction 9), delivered on 4th July 2023, which struck out the Plaintiffs’ Writ of Summons and Statement of Claim under Order 11 Rule 18(1)(b) and (d) of the High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules, 2004 (C.I. 47), on grounds that the action constituted an abuse of the process of the Court.

[2] The Plaintiffs, now Appellants, seek an order reversing that Ruling and restoring their writ for hearing on the merits. The appeal thus brings before us the recurring tension between the doctrine of finality of litigation and the equally fundamental maxim that fraud vitiates everything.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND AND PROCEEDINGS BELOW

[3] By a Writ of Summons filed on 10th March 2023, the Appellants sought several reliefs, including declarations that:

(a) the land in dispute is not the one lawfully acquired by the Respondent; (b) the Respondent’s manipulation of the dates, sizes, and coordinates in his site plans amounted to fraud which vitiated the judgment he obtained from the Supreme Court; and

(c) damages for loss of business and emotional distress.

[4] The Appellants alleged that since 2013, the Respondent had engaged in a

grand fraudulent scheme—doctoring Indentures and Site Plans—to wrongfully appropriate land forming part of their hotel project. They averred that, though both the High Court and the Court of Appeal in Suit No. FAL/582/13 found against the Respondent for fraudulent

misrepresentation, the Supreme Court, on 15th June 2022, overturned those concurrent findings and entered judgment for the Respondent.

[5] Dissatisfied, the Appellants sought review from the Supreme Court and requested permission to submit additional evidence of fraud. Both applications were subsequently withdrawn and struck out. During the course of the review proceedings, the Appellants asserted that the Supreme Court suggested allegations of fraud could be pursued through a new writ in the High Court. Based on this understanding, they initiated the present action. The Respondent entered an appearance to the suit on 20th March 2023.

[6] The Respondent, by motion dated 20th May 2023, applied under Order 11 Rule 18(1)(b) and (d) of C.I. 47 to strike out the entire pleadings as scandalous, frivolous, and an abuse of process.

Order 11 Rule 18(1)(b) and (d) provides as follows:

*“18. (1) The Court may at any stage o