[2018]DLSC160 • July 11, 2018 • Supreme Court •
EBUSUAPANYIN JAMES BOYE FERGUSON(SUBST. BY AFUA AMERLEY) vs. I. K. IMBEAH, V. A. ARMAH AND YAW
The dispute concerns ownership and tenancy rights over House No. 15 Westlands Boulevard, West Legon, Accra. The plaintiff alleged an agreement to purchase the house from the defendant for $50,000, with a part payment of $10,000, and claimed the defendant was estopped from denying the sale. The defendant contended the plaintiff was a tenant, not a purchaser, and that the tenancy agreement was valid. The plaintiff also alleged forgery of tenancy documents by the defendant. The trial court and Court of Appeal found the defendant to be the owner, no sale contract existed, and the plaintiff was a statutory tenant liable for mesne profits.
read moreThis appeal commenced as a representative action in the then District Grade One Court, Saltpond on the 9th of November 1988. About four (4) years later, precisely on the 23rd of September 1992, it was transferred to the High Court on the orders of the District Magistrate, the reason being that the value of the properties the subject-matter in dispute, far exceeded the jurisdiction of the District Court. The parties filed pleadings in the District Court, which practice was not a strict requirement under the District Court rules. Upon the transfer of the action to the High Court, the parties filed new pleadings through amendments, pursuant to orders of the trial High Court. The original plaintiff in the action, Ebusuapanyin James Boye Ferguson who in the original action in the District Court said he had sued as Acting Head of the Asanawoma Okrah Kona Family for himself and on-behalf of the family, filed his Amended Writ of Summons and Statement of Claim in the High Court on 13th May 1994...