VICTOR AGGOE BRIANT vs F. A. L. BROWN & ANOTHER
2016
HIGH COURT
GHANA
CORAM
- HIS LORDSHIP, JUSTICE ANTHONY OPPONG
Areas of Law
- Civil Procedure
- Property and Real Estate Law
- Tort Law
2016
HIGH COURT
GHANA
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
The Briandt family from Osu, Accra, filed a suit against the Brown family, also from Osu, seeking exclusive ownership of the Briandt Memorial House. However, a prior related lawsuit was settled out of court, resulting in a consent judgment, Exhibit 'L.' Plaintiff's attempt to challenge the consent judgment based on claims of misrepresentation failed due to insufficient evidence. The court upheld the consent judgment, establishing joint ownership of the property between both families, and ruled in favor of the defendants' counterclaims based on Ghanaian and Ga customs.
A family at Osu, Accra called and described as Briandt family issued the writ of summons per its head in accordance with Order 4 Rule 9(2) of the High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules, 2004 (C. I. 47) against Defendants whom Plaintiff described as members of Brown family without indicating whether or not the Defendants are the heads of the Brown family.
For all intends and purposes Plaintiff’s cause of action was directed at a group of people, a family called Brown family.
I may therefore say that it is somewhat paradoxical for Plaintiff to have acknowledged the law that it is the head of family who sues on behalf of or as representing the family but would not apply the same acknowledgement of the law in suing the Brown family per its head.
In other words, when Plaintiff proceeded against the Brown family, it would have been expected that he should have sued the head of the Brown family just as he sued as the head of the Briandt family.
Plaintiff and for that matter the Briandt family sought a declaration to the effect that the Briandt family of Osu, Accra is different and distinct from the Brown family of Osu, Accra; and that the Briandt Memorial House, Osu Blogordo built by Julius Caesar Briandt is now Briandt family property; an injunction to restrain the Defendants and for that matter the members of the Brown family from laying any claim or ownership or developing or carrying out any construction or renovation of the Briandt Memorial House, Osu Blogordo, Accra.
Defendants also pleaded for reliefs against the Plaintiff by way of counterclaim as contained in the Amended Statement of Defence and Counterclaim filed on 30th June 2005 as follows: (a) A declaration that the terms of settlement between the Briandt and Brown families dated 9th March 2009 and adopted by the Court as its judgment constitutes estoppel per rem judicatem(b) A declaration that it is in accord with Ghanaian custom at large and in Ga custom in particular that libation must be poured for the dead who were not residing at the funeral home prior to his demise(c) A declaration that it will be contemptuous if the Plaintiff or any member of his family writes on the disputed property “ Briandt Memorial Building or House” having regard to the consent judgment.
It is of primary importance to observe that this suit is principally about the ownership of the house at Osu Blogordo but not so much as to who acquired or developed it but on whom it had devolved.
Has it become the property of both