[1985]DLCA1001 • July 29, 1985 • Court of Appeal
SEATEC LTD. vs. PENTON HOOK FARMS LTD. AND OTHERS
The appellant, Seatec Ltd., claimed specific performance of an oral agreement to purchase machinery including a motor grader from the defendants, Penton Hook Farms Ltd. and others. The appellant alleged payment by cash cheque of ¢800,000 and sought delivery of the equipment. The defendants denied a firm agreement and asserted a prior sale of the grader to the codefendant, Samuel Kofi Addison, who claimed full payment and legal title. The appellant sought an interim preservation order to maintain the status quo of the grader pending trial to prevent irreparable damage.
read moreJUDGMENT OF APALOO C.J. Apaloo C.J. delivered the judgment of the court. This appeal was extremely well argued by counsel on both sides. However, on the conclusion of arguments last Friday, each member of this court independently came to the same conclusion. Although the issues canvassed and the arguments presented to us strayed a little, it is clear to us that on this interlocutory appeal, the only issue of substance is whether on the pleadings and affidavits placed before the court, there is the need to preserve the motor grader in dispute in status quo so that irreparable damage may not be caused to the applicant-appellant. There is also the correlative issue: which of the parties would suffer the greater hardship if this application were refused? In this area of property preservation pending suit, judicial pronouncements have not been wholly consistent. But in Vanderpuye v. Nartey [1977] 1 G.L.R. 428, C.A. this court took the trouble to lay down what it considered to be ...