[1971]DLHC2097 • July 26, 1971 • High Court
BONSU AND ANOTHER vs. BONSU
The plaintiff-respondent sued the defendants-applicants for libel, claiming damages of N¢50,000 for defamatory letters and a newspaper advertisement alleging misconduct and summary dismissal related to the plaintiff's role as deputy managing director of the Popular Merchants Co., Ltd. The defendants admitted publishing the letters but denied defamation, asserting qualified privilege and truth in part. The defendants counterclaimed for damages arising from alleged breaches of conduct by the plaintiff. The defendants sought to join the Popular Merchants Co., Ltd. as a third defendant to pursue a counterclaim, arguing the company was directly affected and necessary for complete adjudication.
read moreOn 19 July 1971 I refused an application by the defendants-applicants and I reserved my reasons for so refusing to today. I did so because this application before me brought under Order 16, r. 11 of the Supreme [High] Court (Civil Procedure) Rules, 1954 (L.N. 140A.), involved a point of procedure of rare occurrence and does not seem to me to have been dealt with in the past in any way that can be properly described as full. I took the view that if it is fully dealt with such applications by tortfeasors will continue to be as rare here as they have been in England. The one local case directly in point which I came across, namely, Apenteng v. Bank of West Africa [1961] G.L.R. 81 to be dealt with later on in this judgment does not appear to have been vigorously argued although in its result the similar application therein made suffered the same fate as the application herein and for reasons which although short and concise are in my respectful opinion right. With this preliminary obser...