2022
SUPREME COURT
GHANA
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
The Supreme Court of Ghana, per Amadu JSC, allowed an appeal by the 1st Plaintiff/Respondent/Appellant, a Ghanaian company that imports petroleum products and stored them with the Defendant/Appellant/Respondent, a state-owned company, from a Court of Appeal decision that had set aside a High Court summary judgment. The High Court first entered summary judgment in the full amount endorsed on the writ when the Respondent failed to file opposition in time, then varied the order to enter summary judgment for USD 11,104,143.29 based on the Respondent’s own admissions, reserving the remainder of the claims and the counterclaim for trial. The Court of Appeal held the trial judge was uncertain and should have set the matter down for trial, and that issues set at pre-trial indicated triable matters. The Supreme Court rejected those holdings, explaining that Order 14 Rule 9 authorizes variation where a defendant does not appear, that pre-trial issue-setting does not preclude summary judgment, and that admissions create a conclusive presumption of liability. It restored summary judgment for the admitted sum with interest at 19% and default interest from 13 November 2015, and remitted the remaining claims and the Respondent’s counterclaim to the High Court.
AMADU JSC
(1)INTRODUCTION
This is an appeal from the judgment of the Court of Appeal which set aside the summary judgment entered by the High Court in the sum of USD$11,104,143.29 in favour of the 1st Plaintiff/ Respondent/Appellant against the Defendant/Appellant /Respondent.
(2)BACKGROUND FACTS
By a writ of summons and statement of claim filed on 18th November, 2015, the 1st Plaintiff/Respondent/Appellant (hereinafter referred to as the “Appellant”) claimed against the Defendant/Appellant/ Respondent (hereinafter referred to as the “Respondent”) the following reliefs:
“a. Recovery of the sum of USD$20,226,717.75 being Defendant’s
cumulative indebtedness to Plaintiff as at 12/11/15.
b.Interest on the aforesaid amount at the rate of 19% being the rate of interest paid by Plaintiff to its bankers on its unpaid facility from 13/11/15 up until the date of final payment.
c.Recovery of the sum of USD$3,420,000.00 being the total sum of profits lost to Plaintiff from March 10, 2014 to November 12, 2015 by reason of the cancellation of Plaintiff’s facility by its bankers as a result of Defendant’s refusal to pay the debt due and owing from Defendant to Plaintiff to enable Plaintiff also service its debt with its bankers.
d.Interest on the aforesaid sum of USD$3,420,000.00 at the prevailing bank rate from 13/11/15 up until the date of final payment.
e.Costs for the prosecution of this suit on a full indemnity basis”.
(3)The Appellant, per its writ of summons and statement of claim is a company registered in Ghana, while the Defendant is also a registered company in Ghana with the Republic of Ghana being its sole shareholder. The 2nd Plaintiff is a commercial bank who among others, grant credit facilities to its customers, one of whom is the Appellant. The Appellant avers that per the nature of its business, it imports petroleum products for sale to its customers which products are delivered to the Respondent for storage pending onward sale to its customers. Sometime in 2013, it observed after a reconciliation of its stock balance, that the Defendant was unable to account for large volumes of products delivered to the Defendant for storage. After several meetings between the parties, it was agreed that 30th September, 2013 be accepted as the dated from which all losses suffered by Appellant be established. The Appellant reminded the Defendant by a letter dated 23rd January, 2014 of the above mentioned agreement and enclosed therein an invoice of USD 16,3