THE PROPRIETOR; MOK BEER BAR v. GADA

This appeal arises from a retail sale at Mok, a beer bar in Zongo Lane, Accra, owned by the appellant. On 18 December 1974 the respondent purchased two bottles of locally made whisky and asked that they be kept until he collected them. When he returned on 23 December, the appellant’s wife had sold the bottles to another customer. The respondent had already recovered the value of the whisky (¢11.00) and court fee (¢2.00) in an earlier action, and then brought a second suit seeking general damages, claiming reputational harm before his friend, poultry farmer Kofi Braku of Gomoa Ekwamkrom, whose Christmas party was cancelled without the drinks. The district magistrate treated the appellant’s agreement to keep the bottles as part of the contract of sale and awarded damages, later increasing them to ¢350.00 and costs to ¢75.00. On appeal, Agyepong J. held that the storage request did not form a contractual condition; the buyer had the duty to accept delivery; any risk from delay lay with him. Though the appellant became a bailee and his wife’s re-sale amounted to conversion, only the value of the goods was recoverable; reputational loss was too remote. The appeal was allowed, the district court judgment set aside, and costs awarded to the appellant.