WILLIAM SNOWDEN v. VOM-BANEX INTERNATIONAL LTD
2022
COURT OF APPEAL
GHANA
CORAM
- WELBOURNE, J. A. (PRESIDING)
- B. MENSAH, J.A.
- BAFFOUR, J.A
Areas of Law
- Civil Procedure
- Property and Real Estate Law
- Evidence Law
2022
COURT OF APPEAL
GHANA
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
The Ghana Court of Appeal (panel of Margaret Welbourne JA, P. Bright Mensah JA, and Eric K. Baffour JA authoring) reviewed a property dispute arising from an execution sale at McCarthy Hill involving judgment debtor Joseph Amon Kotey, previously convicted of fraud. The appellant claimed beneficial ownership of a house described variously as H/No 70 & 71, parcel No 35, and H/No 2, 1st Link, alleging fraudulent misdescription and forged documents by Kotey. The respondent purchased the property as the highest bidder and relied on a registered title in Koteys name issued by the Land Title Registry and traceable to the Gbawe Kwatei family. Applying the appellate presumption and scrutinizing the evidence, the court found mismatched acreage, unexplained renumbering, Exhibit Cs irrelevance (Property No 7), and material inconsistencies in the appellants testimony (including presence at execution and whether he bought bare land or a building). The court held no adequate proof of fraud or title impeachment and affirmed the High Courts dismissal, awarding costs.
Baffour J.A:
Introduction:
The Rules of Court recognise the possibility of a mistake during execution of a judgment or order of a court where the property of an innocent third party who was not party to the suit that resulted in the judgment may be seized in execution and there are ample procedural rules to resolve that. Where such a mistaken identification of the property of a non-party to a suit occurs, the rules allow for the filing of a notice of claim in an interpleader action for the ownership of the property to be determined by the court either in a summary form or in a formal way. The Rules also do not preclude such an innocent party from filing a writ for the determination of the ownership of the property. Having first resorted to the former in the filing of a notice of claim and abandoning same, Plaintiff/Appellant had recourse to the filing of a writ for the determination of the ownership of the H/No 2 or Property No 35, 1st Link, McCarthy Hill, the res litiga. The trial Judge was not impressed with the evidence adduced in support of the reliefs sought for the res litiga to have been discharged from execution and the subsequent sale of the property. As to whether Plaintiff/Appellant produced enough evidence at the trial court for judgment to have been delivered in its favour is the crux of this appeal. The parties would simply be referred to as appellant and respondent.
Background
The case of the Appellant is founded on fraud by a certain Joseph Amon Kotey who sometime ago emerged in the public scene and gained notoriety for fraud. Of the many cases of defrauding by false pretences against this Joseph Amon Kotey, conviction was secured in a suit instituled Republic v Joseph Amon Kotey, suit No: D6/261/13 before the Circuit Court One. H/H Judge Francis Obiri (as he then was) sentenced the said Joseph Kotey to ten (10) years imprisonment with hard labour. But before his incarceration, Joseph Kotey had been involved in a number of civil suits, one of which was the suit No: AC 314/2011 titled Francis Nartey v Joseph Amon Kotey. To appellant execution in respect of that case was levied against his property for which he filed a notice of claim in an interpleader action. It is his case that Amoako Asante J (as he then was) discharged his property from attachment which was wrongly attached in execution for the satisfaction of the judgment debt of Amon Kotey. That subsequently in another action instituled Ebenezer Nyarko & 2 Others v Joseph Amon Kote