TEL ENERGY LIMITED v. MV ADOBIA & AFRICAN INDEPENDENT FEEDER GHANA LTD

JUDGMENT

The plaintiff’s writ against the defendant is for:

(a) Recovery of the sum of GH¢86,400.00 being cost of petroleum products supplied to the defendant which sum the defendant has failed or refused to pay despite repeated demands.

(b) Interest on the said sum at the prevailing commercial bank rate from 19th August, 2014 to date of final payment.

(c) Costs including legal fees.

After the writ has been served on the defendants and after the defendants have entered appearance and filed their statement of defence, the matter was referred for pre-trial settlement but when the parties failed to reach a settlement and the case came for trial, the case was called before the court on the 27th July, 2016 and the court ordered the parties to file their witness statements within a specified time and adjourned the case for pre-trial case management conference on the 6th day of October 2016.

However, when the case was called on the date in question, the plaintiff told the court that the plaintiff was unable to file its witness statement in time. The court therefore adjourned the matter to the 27th day of October, 2016 to enable the defendants file their witness statement. When the case was called on the adjourned date, the defendants have still not filed their witness statements; the case was hence adjourned to the 15th day of November, 2016. Hearing notice was again served on the defendants on the 8th November, 2016. The case was called on the 15th November, 2016; the defendants failed to appear and also failed to file their witness statement. The court again adjourned the case to the 1st of December, 2016 for definite hearing. Hearing notice was therefore served on the defendants on the 22nd day of November, 2016 to appear before the court on the 1st of December for hearing but again when the case was called on the 1st December, 2016, the defendants had not filed their witness statements and also failed to appear in court.

The plaintiff was therefore invited to testify and they did so through their representative Marian Atta-Boahene. From the statement of defence filed by the defendants, the court finds that the defendants have admitted that sometime in August 2014, the plaintiff was engaged by the 2nd defendant to supply fuel products to the 1st defendant vessel. The court also finds from the statement of defence that the defendants have admitted that indeed the plaintiff supplied the fuel products as requested by the 2nd defendant to the 1st defendant.