June 1, 2022
SUPREME COURT
GHANA
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
This Supreme Court appeal arises from Access Bank Ghana Limited’s unlawful attachment of a 450‑ton mobile crane which the Plaintiff company owned, during enforcement of a judgment against Rockshell International Ltd. After the Plaintiff succeeded in an interpleader and recovered the crane, it sued the bank for wrongful seizure. The High Court awarded special damages at USD 25,000 per day and costs, but the Court of Appeal set aside special damages, awarding USD 200,000 in general damages and reducing costs to GHc 20,000. On appeal and cross‑appeal, the Supreme Court affirmed that wrongful attachment sounded in tort, but held the Plaintiff had not strictly proved special damages because the Equipment Hire Agreement (Exhibit G) alone did not show actual loss. Exercising discretion, the Court reduced general damages to USD 100,000, confirmed that damages may be denominated in USD but paid in cedi equivalent, rejected allegations of fraud and veil‑lifting, and maintained the reduction of costs. The Plaintiff’s appeal was dismissed; the bank’s cross‑appeal succeeded in part.
OWUSU (MS.) JSC:
On 26th November 2020, the Court of Appeal, Accra, allowed the Defendant appeal in part and held among other things that:
“In conclusion, I hereby set aside the award of special damages made by the learned trial judge in favour of the Plaintiff/Respondent in the sum of USD 25,000 per day from the date of attachment of the machine i.e., 12 May 2016 to date of its released i.e., 15 March, 2017. In its place, I make an award in the nature of general damages in the sum of the cedi equivalent of USD 200,000.
I set aside the cost of GHc 80,000 made in favour of the Plaintiff/Respondent. In its place, I make an award of GHc20,000”.
Dissatisfied with the decision of the Court of Appeal, the Plaintiff/Respondent appealed to this Court on the following grounds:
(a)The Judgment is against the weight of evidence.
(b)The reduction of the Judgment amount of USD 7.6 million to USD 200,000 amounted to grave or substantial miscarriage of justice.
(c)The Court of Appeal fell into an error and caused substantial miscarriage of justice when it held that the Plaintiff/Respondent did not prove the special damages claimed notwithstanding that the Plaintiff tendered the written contract as proof of the amount claimed daily as special damages.
(d)The reduction of the cost of GHc 80,000 awarded by the trial court by the Court of Appeal to GHc 20,000.00 was not commensurate with all the factors a judge must consider to award costs.
The relief sought from this Court is for the Judgment of the Court of Appeal dated 26th November,2020 to be set aside and the Judgment of the High Court dated 7th June 2019 to be restored.
On 17th February, 2021, the Defendant filed a Cross-Appeal against the Judgment of the Court of Appeal on the following grounds:
1.The award of the Ghana cedi equivalent of USD 200,000 as general damages in favour of the Plaintiff/Respondent is excessive and without basis.
2.The award of the general damages to the Plaintiff/Respondent/Respondent using the United States Dollars as benchmark is without any legal basis.
3.The learned judges erred when they failed to make finding of fraud against the Plaintiff/Respondent/Respondent.
Particulars of Error
The learned Judges erred when they failed to lift the corporate veil on the Plaintiff/Respondent/Respondent despite clear evidence that its directors at all material times knew that Rockshell International Limited has used the same crane as collateral for a loan from the Defendant/Appellant/Cr