JUDGEMENT

ADJEI-FRIMPONG, JSC

This protracted litigation ensued upon the death of a certain George Padmore Mensah alias Kwadwo Boadi (the deceased), late of Kumasi. He died in 2001. In his lifetime, he was reputed to have acquired a number of properties which were later to fall into dispute at the plaint of his maternal family mainly his siblings. This culminated in two separate suits commenced in the trial High Court, Kumasi now on second appeal before us.

In the first suit filed on 4/4/2003, two companies of which the deceased was a director and shareholder, namely SUGAR HILL LIMITED and 2ND GENERATION SCHOOL LTD sued in their names as 1st and 2nd Plaintiffs. They brought the action against the 1st to 6th Defendants who were siblings, nephews and nieces of the deceased and the 7th Defendant, a teacher in the 2nd Generation School.

Their case put shortly, was that the deceased in his lifetime acquired four plots of land with numbers 29, 30, 31, and 32 Block J Fankyenebra, Kumasi. He, out of his own resources and contribution of his wife put up the hotel and the school facilities on the plots. They also incorporated the two companies. The deceased later caused the properties to be assigned to the Companies. He and the wife managed and operated the businesses until his death when the Defendants, alleging family ownership of the properties forcibly took over the running of the place. The Defendants also sold another property situate at North OLA in Cape Coast belonging to the 1st Plaintiff Company. The Plaintiffs thus sought the following reliefs against the Defendants:

a. An order of injunction restraining the Defendants whether by themselves, their servants, agents, assigns, privies and/or any person(s) howsoever called or otherwise howsoever from dealing with, disposing of alienating and/or interfering with Plaintiffs’ properties and from entering or remaining on Plot Nos. 29, 30, 31 and 32 Block J, Fankyenebra, Kumasi and the Plots at North OLA, Cape Coast, Central Region.

b. An order compelling the Defendants to return/restore to the premises of thePlaintiffs-Company any property taken away by them in its original condition or in the alternative a replacement value.

c. Special and General Damages.

d. Interest at the commercial bank rate on the sum found by the court to be due to the Plaintiffs.

e. Such further Order(s) as to this Court may deem meet.

The Companies were represented in