NANA TAKPA GMANYIFEN & ANOR VS NANA NKPANABEKE OKLAS II
2024
HIGH COURT
GHANA
CORAM
- HER LADYSHIP JUSTICE JOAN EYI KING
Areas of Law
- Civil Procedure
- Contract Law
- Constitutional Law
2024
HIGH COURT
GHANA
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
The case revolves around an application by the 1st defendant/applicant to strike out certain paragraphs of the plaintiff’s statement of claim on grounds of not disclosing any reasonable cause of action and being scandalous, frivolous, and vexatious. The application was rejected by the court as the applicant did not provide the writ of summons and statement of claim that were crucial to substantiate the strikeout claims. The plaintiffs argued that the previous judgment by the Krachi Traditional Council was fraudulent and sought judicial review. The court found that issues of fraud in judgments necessitate a new writ precisely detailing fraud and emphasized the supervisory role of the High Court over inferior courts.
RULING – STRIKING OUT PLEADINGS
This is an application for and on behalf of the 1st defendant/applicant hereinafter referred to as applicant praying the Court for an order striking out paragraphs 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 of the plaintiff/respondent hereinafter referred to as respondent’s statement of claim for not disclosing any reasonable cause of action, as being scandalous, frivolous, vexatious and an abuse of the court process and for further orders to dismiss plaintiff’s action upon the grounds in the accompanying affidavit and for such further orders as the Honourable Court may deem fit.
I shall quote the relevant paragraphs as follows: 3. That on the 29/06/2020 I was served with a writ of summons together with the statement of claim.
4. That I entered appearance through my lawyer and filed my statement of defence on the 13/07/2020 and 23/09/2020 respectively.
6. That the plaintiffs’ writ of summons and statement of claim disclose no reasonable cause of action against the defendant and it is also scandalous, frivolous and vexatious.
7. That paragraphs 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 of the statement of claim does not disclose any reasonable cause of action against the defendant/applicant.
8. That the suit between plaintiffs/respondents and defendant/applicant herein before the Krachi Traditional Council was not a land title declaration suit fraudulently captured as a cause or matter affecting chieftaincy as the respondent would want this Honourable Court to believe.
9. That more specifically the averment by plaintiff respondent in paragraph 5 of the nd statement of claim to the effect that “the plaintiff states that the suit before the 2 defendant was a land title declaration suit fraudulently captured as a cause or matter affecting chieftaincy, does not establish a reasonable cause of action.
10. That I am advised by counsel and verily believe same to be true that the choice of words and style one chooses to present his case or institute his action at any adjudicating tribunal or body does not constitute an act of fraud.
11. That I am advised by counsel and verily believe same to be true that the particulars of fraud as captured in paragraph 7(a) of plaintiff statement of claim is scandalous, frivolous and vexatious to the extent that plaintiff contends that defendants surreptitiously brought a land matter before the Traditional Council when same was a palpable falsehood.
12. That on the 14 th day of August 2017, I issued a petition against the plaintiff