[2020]DLSC9389 • February 5, 2020 • Supreme Court •
AHMED MUDDY ADAM vs. FRANK NUAMAH
The plaintiff initiated an action in the High Court seeking to set aside a prior High Court judgment on grounds of fraud, misrepresentation, and breach of the right to a hearing. The defendant entered a conditional appearance, filed a statement of defence, and simultaneously applied to strike out the plaintiff's statement of claim on grounds that it disclosed no reasonable cause of action, was frivolous, vexatious, and an abuse of court process. The trial judge dismissed the defendant's application. The Court of Appeal reversed this decision, allowing the application to strike out. The plaintiff appealed to the Supreme Court.
read moreGBADEGBE JSC read the following judgment of the Court: The question for our determination in the exercise of our ultimate appellate jurisdiction is whether the decision of the learned justices of the intermediate appellate court which reversed the decision of the trial court in the matter herein which turns upon the practice and procedure relating to the summary disposal of actions under the Rules of Court was a correct exercise of their discretion. This is a point of procedural importance related to the authority of courts to summarily dispose of actions before them without going through a full-scale trial. In our opinion, having regard to the increasing number of appeals emanating from decisions rendered by trial judges and the intermediate appellate court which unfortunately reveal a misunderstanding of the scope of the rules and the practice relating to it, we would like to reiterate the exceptional nature of the power conferred on courts to summarily dispose of actions founded ...