[2016]DLHC3586 • June 16, 2016 • High Court
GEORGE A. SARPONG vs. WISCONSIN UNIVERSITY COLEGE AND OTHERS
The plaintiff, George A. Sarpong, a former contract law lecturer and director at the Ghana School of Law, owned a seven-bedroom residential property at Haatso Agbogba, Accra, which he occupied from 2007. The defendant, Wisconsin University College, constructed a large classroom complex adjacent to and overlooking the plaintiff's property, allegedly blocking access to part of the plaintiff's land and invading his privacy. The plaintiff claimed nuisance, invasion of privacy, deceit, and fraud, alleging that the defendants promised to relocate and compensate him but failed to do so. The plaintiff also complained of noise disturbances, obstruction of access, and water supply issues caused by the defendants' activities.
read moreI preface this judgment with the words of John Milton, a 17th century poet who served under Oliver Cromwell in England, in his epic work, Paradise Lost. He writes: “They, looking back, all the eastern side beheld Of Paradise, so late their happy seat, Waved over by that flaming brand, the gate With dreadful faces thronged and fiery arms: Some natural tears they dropped, but wiped them soon; The world was all before them, where to choose Their place of rest, and Providence their guide; They, hand in hand, with wandering steps and slow, Through Eden took their solitary way.” This sums up the tragedy of the case of the Plaintiff whose dream of an Eden like environment has been shattered by what he claims to be the activities of the defendants. The plaintiff, a former contract law lecturer at the University of Ghana, Legon, who in the dying embers of his glittering career in the academia was the director of the Ghana School of Law, on the 3rd of July, 2012 conceived and b...