NII TETTEH OPREMREH II & ANOR v. KOMEXA LTD. & ORS
2019
COURT OF APPEAL
GHANA
CORAM
- V.D. OFOE J.A (PRESIDING)
- B.F. ACKAH-YENSU J.A
- I. O. TANKO AMADU J.A
Areas of Law
- Land Law
- Civil Procedure
- Constitutional Law
2019
COURT OF APPEAL
GHANA
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
The appeal against the judgment of the High Court (Land Division) Accra dated 22nd February 2018 is dismissed. The Appellants' plea of estoppel per rem judicata is not upheld due to the finding of fraud in the original judgment. The joinder of the 4th and 5th Defendants was proper, and their counterclaims were valid. The judgment of the Trial High Court is affirmed, and all grounds of the appeal are dismissed.
TANKO AMADU J.A
(1) This appeal is from the judgment of the High Court (Land Division) Accra dated the 22nd day of February 2018. Before I proceed however, it is important to place on record that the instant appeal is with respect to the appeal filed by the Plaintiffs/Appellants per their notice filed on 16/5/2017 at pages 630 to 633 of Vol.2 of the record of appeal and not the notice filed by the 2nd Defendant/Appellant on 12/4/2017 from the same judgment on pages 627 to 628 of Vol. 3 of the record of appeal. Secondly, I need to place on record that at the hearing of the instant appeal, when our attention was drawn to the pendency of the appeal filed by the 2nd Defendant/Appellant, we requested all counsel in the instant appeal to address us on the necessity of bringing the two (2) appeals to the attention of the Chief Justice to enable a directive to be made for the two (2) appeals to be consolidated in order to avoid the possibility of different panels of this court delivering judgments arising from the same record but with inconsistent outcomes. We proceeded to deal with this appeal based on the assurances of all counsel that the issues arising for determination in the 2nd Defendant/Appellant’s appeal in the notice filed on 12/4/2017, are issues limited to accounts and payment of compensation which are radically different from the issues arising from the grounds set forth in the instant appeal.
(2) In the High Court (Land Division) Accra, the Plaintiffs/ Appellants (hereinafter referred to as the ‘Appellants’) commenced action by writ issued on 9/9/2009 against only the 1st Defendant on record. However, by various processes of joinder granted by the Trial Court which resulted in several amendments to the Appellants’ original writ, the trial was eventually determined on the basis of the Appellants’ amended writ and statement of claim against five (5) Defendants as endorsed in the judgment of the Trial Court on appeal. The Respondents in this appeal are the 2nd, 4th and 5th Defendants hereinafter referred to simply as 2nd, 4th and 5th Respondents.
(3) By the last amendment of parties and reliefs sought from the Trial Court on 10/3/2015, the two (2) Appellants herein who are the Chief of Shiashie and Head of Apiantse We of Lenshie Quarter of La, Accra respectively acting for and on behalf of the Apiantse jointly and severally claimed against the Defendants/ Respondents (herein) as follows:-
“(a) As against the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Defendants jointly and s