WOLEDZI v. AKUFO-ADDO AND ANOTHER

JUDGMENT OF KORANTENG-ADDOW J.

This is a case with a very checkered history, and it is a case which has been fought and defended with tooth and nail. The writ of summons was filed on 18 September 1967 and summons for directions was taken on 21 December 1967. Several factors have militated against the speedy disposal of the case. Hearing began on 21 March 1968 before Anterkyi J.

He took two witnesses for the plaintiff and then after a number of adjournments, he decided not to hear the case and caused it to be placed before another judge. After several adjournments before another judge, the matter eventually came on for trial before Charles Crabbe J. (as he then was) and judgment was delivered on 15 January 1969. He dismissed the plaintiff's claim and the plaintiff appealed against the judgment. I am informed by Mr. Atadika, counsel for the plaintiff, who has been in the case throughout, and I read a note to this effect from the record of proceedings, that the record book containing the whole of the evidence taken by Charles Crabbe J. could not be traced.

The result being that the record of proceedings presented at the Court of Appeal was not complete, it did not include the great bulk of the proceedings before Charles Crabbe J. It contained only his judgment. The Court of Appeal therefore did not hear the appeal, it ordered a re-trial. This is the judgment of the re-trial.

By his amended writ of summons, the plaintiff claims ¢100,000 damages for personal injuries and loss sustained by him as a result of the defendants' negligence and breach of statutory duty. Originally, the writ was indorsed with ¢25,000 claim; later it was amended to read ¢50,000 and finally ¢100,000. The basis of the claim is that on 14 January 1967 the plaintiff was injured in an accident which occurred on the Ring Road involving the plaintiff's car and the first [p.425] defendant's car. The circumstances of the accident are so much in dispute that it is necessary to reproduce the facts as recounted by each party.

The plaintiff's version of how the accident happened, in his own words, is as follows:

"I was driving along the Ring Road and I was in the right lane near the island. I was moving towards the Police Headquarters. When I was almost opposite the UNESCO building, I had a burst tyre. It was the right back tyre. I stopped and parked the car on the island. In 1967 we were driving left, so I was driving on the side of the Mandarin Restaurant . . . I got out of the car, remove