February 9, 2022
SUPREME COURT
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
Following dismissal of her claims by the High Court and a further dismissal by the Court of Appeal on 25 January 2020, the plaintiff sought a final review in the Supreme Court against the 1st defendant (the land lessor) and the 2nd defendant (a director of ACL Properties Limited). The dispute concerns a 1986 lease for No. 4 School Street, Teshie/Nungua Estate, granted for the erection of a school. The 1st defendant re-entered the land under Act 322 after the plaintiff failed to commence and complete construction and fell into arrears, later granting the land to Nii Odai Ayiku, then Michael Amartey, and ultimately ACL Properties. The Supreme Court struck out an incompetent ground alleging misdirection, affirmed concurrent findings that proper notice under Act 322 extinguished the plaintiff’s leasehold without physical re-entry, held that fraud was not proved beyond reasonable doubt, and dismissed the appeal, affirming the Court of Appeal’s judgment.
LOVELACE-JOHNSON (MS.) JSC:-
On 25th January 2020, the court of appeal dismissed the plaintiff/appellant/appellant’s appeal against the judgment of the high court, which judgment had dismissed her claims against the
defendants/respondents/respondents. Dissatisfied with this, she has launched a further appeal to this court on the matter. The respondents in this appeal are the 1st and 2nd defendants.
The designation of the parties at the high court will be maintained in this appeal.
The plaintiff’s claim by her amended writ at the high court was for the following eight reliefs:
a) Declaration of title in No 4, School Street, Teshie/Nungua Estate originally covering 3.06 acres by the indenture of the 1st Defendant but found out to cover 3.11 acres by surveyors of Land Title Registry.
b) An order for Recovery of possession of all that piece of land identified as No. 4 School Street by the document given to the plaintiff by the 1st Defendant.
c) An order to cancel the document of Defendants or setting aside of same.
d) An order for perpetual injunction restraining the Defendants, their agents, assigns and all those who claim through them from by any way or means interfering with the Plaintiff’s quiet enjoyment of the said land and development of the same upon the satisfaction of the Court’s subsisting order on the 1st Defendant.
e Special damages of GHC4 million against the Defendants for the unnecessary mental agony, physical suffering in the form of loss of
uncalculated time spent both on the land to prove title to the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Defendant and at the Police station even at the expense of going to Court to represent fee paying clients as Counsel.
f) General damages for trespass
g) An order to 1st Defendant to pay for Plaintiff’s new drawing to be charged by her Architect Mr. Friz Andoh in replacement of the ones earlier sent to him for onward transmission to City Engineers Department for approval.
h) Costs.
A summary of the background to this case is that the plaintiff, upon an application to the 1st defendant was leased a portion of land by the latter for the erection of a school. Several years later, the 1st defendant leased the same portion of land to Nii Odai Ayiku who also granted a sub-lease to one Michael Amartey who in turn granted same to ACL Properties, a company, one of whose directors is the 2nd defendant.
The 1st defendant claims to have so acted because plaintiff defaulted on the covenants stated in the lease granted her and