VIHAMA ENERGY COMPANY vs IMPERIAL ENERGY LIMITED

Per the Amended Writ of Summons dated 1st June 2020, Plaintiff made the following claims against Defendant:

(1) An order for the recovery of the sum of One Million, Five Hundred and Six Thousand Ghana Cedis (GH¢1,506,000.00) being the cost of petroleum products supplied by Plaintiff to the Defendant.

(2) Interest on the said amount from 24th December 2018 to the date of final payment.

(3) Costs.

Plaintiff’s case is that it supplied 486,000 liters of AGO petroleum products to Plaintiff upon Defendant’s General Manager’s request for same through an email dated 10th December 2018.

That Defendant paid for the said products using a cheque in the name of Reston Oil N Gas Limited.

That the cheque could however not be cleared and Defendant has failed to pay for the said products till date.

Defendant’s case is that it ordered the products and received same as the agent for and on behalf of Reston Oil N Gas Limited (a third party).

That the said third party (Reston Oil N Gas Limited) being its principal is therefore liable to pay for the products.

ISSUES

Following the failure of Pre-Trial Settlement Conference, the following issues were set down to be determined by the Court:

1. Whether or not the Defendant conducted business with the Plaintiff on the Defendant’s own account.

2. Whether or not Defendant only acted as a conduit in the transaction of the purchase of petroleum products between Reston Oil n Gas Limited and the Plaintiff.

3. Whether or not Defendant is indebted to the Plaintiff.

4. Any other issue(s) arising from the pleadings.

THE BURDEN OF PROOF

The general rule is that he who asserts must prove. Where a party in a civil suit raises issues that are essential to the success of his claims, the general rule is that he assumes the onus of proof; irrespective of whether it is the Plaintiff who makes a claim or the Defendant who makes a counterclaim.

Section 10 of the Evidence Decree, 1971 (Act 323) defines this burden as follows:

“(1) For the purpose of this Decree, the burden of persuasion means the obligation of a party to establish a requisite degree of belief concerning a fact in the mind of the tribunal of fact or the court.

(2) the burden of persuasion may require a party

(a) to raise a reasonable doubt concerning the existence or non-existence of a fact, or

(b) to establish the existence or non-existence of a fact by a preponderance of the probabilities or by proof beyond a reasonable doubt.

Section 12 (1) of the Evidence Ac