KWABENA OFORI ODURO & ORS v. ISAAC KWASI OWUSU (SUBSTITUTED BY ADU BAFOUR)
2015
SUPREME COURT
GHANA
CORAM
- WOOD, C. J. (PRESIDING)
- ANSAH, J.S.C.
- DOTSE, J.S.C.
- BONNIE, J.S.C.
- AKAMBA, J.S.C
Areas of Law
- Contract Law
- Property Law
- Equity
- Fraud
2015
SUPREME COURT
GHANA
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
The case involves a dispute arising from the sale of a property where the vendor's authority was revoked before the sale. The Appellant claimed the sale was legitimate and made various legal arguments to support the validity of the transaction. The Court of Appeal initially failed to order a retrial despite acknowledging incomplete evidence. The Supreme Court ordered a re-hearing of the evidence and ultimately dismissed the appeal on the remaining grounds. The Supreme Court also ordered the respondents to repay the amount paid to redeem the property from the mortgage.
AKAMBA, JSC:
On 23rd December 2014, this court determined two of the grounds of appeal, namely grounds (a) and (d) filed for determination of this appeal. The two grounds alleged that the Court of Appeal had failed to resolve completely all the matters raised in the appeal by its failure to order a retrial after acknowledging that parts of the evidence of the Defendant/Appellant (hereinafter simply referred to as Appellant) were not recorded by the trial judge. We granted the two reliefs in favour of the Appellant and directed, pursuant to rule 23 (3) of CI 16, that the High Court, Accra should re-hear the concluding part of the Appellant’s evidence in chief and the cross examination as well as re-examination thereon, if any, and transmit the outcome to this court for final determination of this appeal. The order having been duly complied with and the record of appeal now complete, we proceed to deliver on the remaining grounds of appeal in this judgment.
BRIEF FACTS
In retrospect this appeal is from the decision of the Court of Appeal of 21/10/2010.
The plaintiffs/respondents (hereinafter simply referred to as respondents) who initiated this action in the High Court, Accra, are the children of Augustus Kofi Oduro, (deceased), the undisputed owner of the house in issue. The said Augustus Kofi Oduro died intestate on 4th November 1981. On 17th December 1982, the High Court, granted letters of administration to his grandson Augustus Yaw Oduro to administer the estate. Augustus Yaw Oduro’s letters of administration (hereinafter simply L/A) was however revoked on 23rd March 1983. Eleven years after the aforesaid revocation and precisely on 22nd September 1994, the plaintiffs applied for and were granted new letters of administration to administer the estate. The plaintiffs in the course of administering their late father’s estate discovered that the house in issue had been sold by the discharged administrator. The purported sale was evidenced by a Deed of Conveyance No 461/1985 dated 27th September 1980. The plaintiffs discovered that the vendor and purchaser perpetuated fraud because the recitals in the Deed of Conveyance are inconsistent with the date of execution.
The respondents as plaintiffs in their writ of summons issued against appellant as defendant dated 23rd November 1995 sought the following reliefs:
Declaration that the sale of H/No C383/2 Amugi Avenue, Adabraka, Accra by a deed of conveyance No 461/1985 to the Defendant by the vendor therei