NII LANTE MILLS v. MILDRED AMA WOODE
2021
COURT OF APPEAL
GHANA
CORAM
- DENNIS ADJEI, J.A (PRESIDING)
- BERNASKO-ESSAH, J.A
- ADJEI-FRIMPONG, JA
Areas of Law
- Property and Real Estate Law
- Evidence Law
- Civil Procedure
- Tort Law
2021
COURT OF APPEAL
GHANA
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
The Court of Appeal, per Adjei-Frimpong J.A., with Dennis Adjei and Sophia Bernasko Essah concurring, dismissed the defendant’s appeal and affirmed the High Court’s judgment declaring the plaintiff the bona fide owner of land at Nungua New Town. The plaintiff purchased through a 1990 assignment from Kwabena Nkrumah, whose 1975 lease from the Nungua Stool (Nii Odai Ayiku IV) was registered. After a 1991 judgment in Nii Kotey Amli III v Rebecca Kuffour confirming La Klanaa’s title, Nii Kotey Amli entered and granted the same land to the defendant, leading to conflict; the plaintiff paid compensation and sought regularization. The Court held that a subsequent judgment cannot defeat a prior purchaser’s title (Mercantile; Abbey; Attram), rejected fraud allegations under the Evidence Act’s presumption of regularity, found limitation/adverse possession unpleaded and unproven, determined La Klanaa’s interest was reversionary, and noted the defendant had notice of encumbrances. The appeal was dismissed with costs to the plaintiff.
ADJEI-FRIMPONG, J.A
The resolved facts of this case, as we gather, are largely straight forward. The plaintiff/respondent who we shall refer to as plaintiff, claims ownership of the land, subject matter of the suit, whose identity was found at the trial not to be in doubt, through the Nungua Stool. He acquired the land by way of assignment from one Kwabena Nkrumah in June 1990 and had title registered in his name.
Kwabena Nkrumah, the assignor, had taken a lease of the land from the Nungua Stool represented by Nii Odai Ayiku in 1975. This lease had also been registered.
Whilst the plaintiff’s interest was subsisting, one Nii Kotey Amli, head of the La Klanna Quarter, acting upon a 1991 judgment he obtained in a land suit contested against one Rebecca Kuffour (Suit No. CCL 67/89) entered upon the land as his family property and granted same to the defendant/appellant (defendant).
In an ensuing tussle between the two rival grantees, the plaintiff caused damage to a development carried out by the defendant. Following a report to the police, it was demanded of the plaintiff to pay compensation to the defendant for the damage caused and thereafter have the issue of title determined between them. The plaintiff complied. He then approached Nii Kotey Amli in an effort to “regularize” his title. Monies changed hands in that process. In the events that followed which did not resolve the plaintiff’s bid, he commenced the suit against the defendant for the following relief:
(I) Declaration of title to all that piece/parcel of land situate and lying and being at Nungua New Town-Accra and more particularly described in a schedule contained in the statement of claim
(II) Recovery of possession
(III) Damages for trespass
(IV) Perpetual injunction restraining the defendant, her personal representatives, agents,
(V) assigns, privies, workmen servants and howsoever described from interfering with, dealing with or having to do in any manner whatsoever with the land the subject matter of the suit.
Expectantly, the defendant resisted the plaintiff’s claim, asserting her title to the land. Her position was mainly on the basis of the judgment obtained by Nii Kotey Amli III and the payment of compensation the plaintiff made to her which she alleged was for a grant of an alternative land. She also claimed that the La Klanaa Quarter had in recognition of her title, replaced the land the plaintiff lost to him by a subsequent conveyance made to him. She also pleaded fraud ag