[2004]DLSC6742 Login to Read Full Case <span style="font-size: 18px !important;"><p class="MsoNoSpacing" align="center" style="text-align:center;line-height:115%"><b><span style="font-family:"Book Antiqua","serif"; color:#00B0F0">ISHAQA MARTEY & 4 ORS.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" align="center" style="text-align:center;line-height:115%"><i><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height: 115%;font-family:"Book Antiqua","serif"">(PLAINTIFFS/RES./APPELLANTS)<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" align="center" style="text-align:center;line-height:115%"><b><span style="font-family:"Book Antiqua","serif"; color:#00B0F0">vs.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" align="center" style="text-align:center;line-height:115%"><b><span style="font-family:"Book Antiqua","serif"; color:#00B0F0">SHEIK ADAM MOHAMMED APEATU<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" align="center" style="text-align:center;line-height:115%"><i><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height: 115%;font-family:"Book Antiqua","serif"">(PLAINTIFFS/RES./APPELLANTS)<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" align="center" style="text-align:center;line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Book Antiqua","serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" align="center" style="text-align:center;line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Book Antiqua","serif"">[SUPREME COURT, ACCRA]<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" align="center" style="text-align:center;line-height:115%"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height: 115%;font-family:"Book Antiqua","serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt; padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in"> <p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; text-align:center;line-height:115%;border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext 1.5pt; padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Book Antiqua","serif"">CIVIL APPEAL NO. J.4./4/2004 </span></b><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Book Antiqua","serif""> DATE<b>: </b>16TH JUNE, 2004<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p> </div><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align:justify;line-height:115%"><b><span style="font-family:"Book Antiqua","serif"">CORAM: <o:p></o:p></span></b></p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt; padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in"> <p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height:115%;border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext 1.5pt;padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in"><span style="font-family:"Book Antiqua","serif"">BROBBEY J.S.C. (PRESIDING), DR. DATE-BAH J.S.C., ANSAH J.S.C., ADINYIRA J.S.C., BAFFOE-BONNIE J.S.C.<o:p></o:p></span></p> </div><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height:115%"><b><span style="font-family:"Book Antiqua","serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt; padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in"> <p class="MsoNoSpacing" align="center" style="text-align:center;line-height:115%; border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext 1.5pt;padding:0in; mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in"><b><span style="font-family:"Book Antiqua","serif"">JUDGMENT<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align: justify;line-height:115%"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Book Antiqua","serif"">MRS. WOOD, J.S.C. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Book Antiqua","serif"">On the 31st of August, 1998, the Respondent appealed against the decision of the High Court, Kumasi dated the 12th of August, 1998. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Book Antiqua","serif"">The appeal was however, struck out by the Court of Appeal on the 30th April, 2002 upon a registrars summons, for non-compliance with the rule 20(1) of the Court of Appeal Rules 1997, C.I. 19, namely, failing to file a written submission of case within the time stipulated under the rules. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Book Antiqua","serif"">Subsequently, on the 6th of May, 2002, he then filed a motion supported by an affidavit, in which he prayed that Court to relist the appeal. The Court unanimously granted the application and restored the appeal to the cause list for hearing on the merits. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Book Antiqua","serif"">Dissatisfied with the grant of the order of relistment, the Appellant has appealed to us on the sole ground that <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Book Antiqua","serif"">"The ruling is unreasonable and cannot be supported having regard to the affidavit evidence on the record." <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Book Antiqua","serif"">Appellant's counsel's complaint against the exercise of the Court's discretionary jurisdiction in this instant case, may be summed up as follows: <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Book Antiqua","serif"">First, that the Court's main finding, and on which it based its decision, that the Respondent's delay in sending the Form 6 to his counsel for due compliance with the rules within the statutory time limit, was due to his being "untutored in law and illiterate", is not borne out by the affidavit evidence. Counsel based his submission on the fact that by the paragraph 4 of his accompanying affidavit, the Respondent attributes the delay to "inadvertence and forgetfulness". <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Book Antiqua","serif"">Second, it was urged that the clear evidence that counsel failed in any event, to take the necessary remedial steps to have the statement promptly filed, even after the initial delay of three months, does not justify a grant of the order. In other words, the Court failed to exercise its discretion judicially, given that the evidence shows an undue or inordinate delay in submitting the application for enlargement of time. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Book Antiqua","serif"">Third, that the Respondent's whole conduct is a clear manifestation of bad faith. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Book Antiqua","serif"">Fourth, that the Applicant has not demonstrated that he has a good or arguable case on appeal. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Book Antiqua","serif"">Quite rightly, the finding that the delay was excusable on the grounds that Respondent was "illiterate and untutored in law" is clearly against the weight of the affidavit evidence. Recognizing that in applications of this nature, the first hurdle an applicant has to clear is to show a good sufficient cause for the delay, (in this case, a seven month delay) the Respondent set out the following matters in his affidavit: <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Book Antiqua","serif"">6. "That I inadvertently failed to forward the Form 6 to my solicitors and it was only upon inquiries from my solicitors sometime in January 2002 that I realized that I had forgotten to inform them. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Book Antiqua","serif"">7. That I am informed by my solicitors that upon their perusal of the Appeal record, they realized that several matters were missing and they accordingly drew the attention of the Registrar of this Honourable Court by letter dated 26th April, 2002. . ." <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Book Antiqua","serif"">8. That my solicitors were feverishly working on the statement of case but were hindered by the missing proceedings and materials in the appeal record. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Book Antiqua","serif"">9. That, furthermore, the failure to complete the statement of case within time, had to also do with the complexity of the case because although the suit was commenced in 1984, in the Kumasi High Court, by the time my current solicitors were appointed in 1997, the Plaintiffs had already called 23 witnesses and closed their case and I was in the box as the last witness having already called 15 witnesses". <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Book Antiqua","serif"">As Appellants counsel rightly argued, Respondent attributed his initial delay of 3 months to pure "inadvertence and forgetfulness", and did not establish any nexus between these factors and his "illiteracy or being untutored in law". The Court's finding on the cause of the delay is therefore in error. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;line-height:115%"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Book Antiqua","serif"">Since an appeal is by way of a rehearing, we are seized with jurisdiction to rehear this matter, and therefore the legitimate question is whether in spite of this erroneous fi