[2011]DLSC2640 • June 22, 2011 • Supreme Court •
DACHEL & COMPANY LIMITED vs. FRIESLAND FRICO DOMO
The Plaintiff, Dachel & Company Limited, a Ghanaian company, was appointed sole agent in Ghana for Pierson Munier & Company (PMC) in 1978. In 1980, Defendant Friesland Frico Domo took over PMC and retained the Plaintiff as agent, varying the agreement to include a 90-day written notice for termination. The Defendant terminated the agency in January 1994, offering NLG 120,000 (~$70,000) as compensation, which the Plaintiff rejected, claiming greater losses due to investments and market development. The Plaintiff filed suit in the High Court Accra seeking compensation and special damages for termination of the agency agreement.
read moreADINYIRA (MRS), JSC: This is an appeal from the judgment of the Court of Appeal delivered on 4 February 2011 affirming the judgment of the High Court Accra dated 7 March 2001 entered in favour of the Plaintiff /Respondent / Respondent (hereinafter referred to as the Plaintiff) against the Defendant/Appellant/Appellant (hereinafter referred to as the defendant). The real issues in this appeal border on the lapse in procedure in Order 2 r.4 of the High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules, 1954 (LN 140A ) and the award of compensation for termination of an agency agreement. The facts of the case narrated in this opinion would therefore be centred on what relates to these issues. The Plaintiff a company incorporated under the laws of Ghana was in 1978 appointed, in terms of an agency agreement Exhibit A, the sole agent in Ghana of the branded products of Pierson Munier & Company (PMC), a company incorporated under the laws of the United Kingdom. In 1980, the Defendant took over PMC and r...