YUNGDONG INDUSTRIES vs. RORO SERVICES & 2 ORS [2006]DLSC2434

Date	2006-02-23
Suit No.	CIVIL APPEAL NO. J4/12/2005
Citation No.	[2006]DLSC2434

AKUFFO (MS) J.S.C. (PRESIDING)

DR. TWUM J.S.C

DR. DATE-BAH J.S.C

OCRAN J.S.C

ANSAH J.S.C.

MR. DICK ANYADI FOR APPELLANT.

MR. KORANTENG ATA-CAESAR FOR RESPONDENT.

MR. FREMPONG-BUADU FOR CROSS APPELLANT.

[2006]DLSC2434
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													<main id="main" class="content" style="min-height: 60rem" >YUNGDONG INDUSTRIES<o:p></o:p>vs.<o:p></o:p>RORO SERVICES &amp; 2 ORS<o:p></o:p>[SUPREME
COURT]<o:p></o:p>CIVIL
APPEAL NO. J4/12/2005<o:p></o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in">

DATE: 23RD FEBRUARY, 2006.<o:p></o:p>

</div>COUNSEL:<o:p></o:p>&nbsp;MR. DICK ANYADI FOR APPELLANT.<o:p></o:p>MR.
KORANTENG ATA-CAESAR FOR RESPONDENT.<o:p></o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in">

MR.
FREMPONG-BUADU FOR CROSS APPELLANT.<o:p></o:p>

</div>CORAM:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<o:p></o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
padding:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in">

AKUFFO
(MS) J.S.C. (PRESIDING), DR. TWUM, J.S.C., DR. DATE-BAH, J.S.C., OCRAN, J.S.C.,
ANSAH, J.S.C.<o:p></o:p>

</div><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>J U D G M E N T<o:p></o:p>DR.
SETH TWUM, J.S.C:-&nbsp; <o:p></o:p>On
22nd April 1994, the Plaintiff issued a Writ of Summons in the High Court,
Accra, against the Defendants.<o:p></o:p>The
Writ was indorsed with the following reliefs:-<o:p></o:p>(i) An order that the Plaintiffs’
goods in the custody of the Defendant be released to the Plaintiff.<o:p></o:p>(ii) An injunction restraining the
Defendant from releasing the goods to anyone save the plaintiff.<o:p></o:p>(iii) Damages for wrongful detention
of Plaintiff’s goods.<o:p></o:p>On
9th May 1994 the Court granted an application by a company called “SEO-KWANG
GHANA LTD” to be joined as Co-Defendant. After the joinder, and with leave of
the Court the Plaintiff filed an amended Writ of Summons and amended Statement
of Claim. The Co-Defendant’s name was put on the Writ and the Statement of
Claim. In the amended Statement of Claim, the Plaintiff averred inter alias as
follows:<o:p></o:p>“(3)&nbsp;&nbsp;
The Plaintiff in the course of his business, orders and receives various
goods for sale in Ghana from a number of Commercial Houses in Korea such as
Ilseki Co. Ltd, Hanla Tyre Co Ltd and Leebo Products Ltd”.<o:p></o:p>“(4)&nbsp;&nbsp;
During the course of 1993, Plaintiff placed orders and received a number
of Bills of Lading as the consignee of various goods from the said Commercial
Houses.”<o:p></o:p>“(5)&nbsp;&nbsp;
Plaintiff received the Bills of Lading on the goods from Defendant, the
carrier of same, and proceeded to clear same but due to financial difficulties
succeeded in clearing some of the goods.<o:p></o:p>“(6)&nbsp;&nbsp;
Subsequently when the Plaintiff was getting ready to clear the&nbsp; remaining goods, he received information that
Defendant was taking steps to amend the Bills of Lading, some of whom (?) had
been misplaced, reconsigning same goods to&nbsp;
the&nbsp; Co-Defendant.”. <o:p></o:p>“(11)&nbsp;&nbsp;
Plaintiff contends that title to the goods have long passed to him and
nobody including the consignor could unilaterally reconsign the goods to a
third party.<o:p></o:p>“(12)&nbsp;&nbsp;
Plaintiff further contends that&nbsp;
Co-Defendant is a stranger to the contract and is only been (?) misled
by its misguided directors”.<o:p></o:p>&nbsp;On 3rd June 1994, the Defendants filed&nbsp; their statement of defence. The following
paragraphs epitomize the substance of that defence.<o:p></o:p>“(4)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Except that the Defendants admit
having&nbsp; at the request of the consignor
also known as the&nbsp; shipper of the goods,
altered the relevant&nbsp; documents to
replace the Plaintiff with the Co-Defendants as the new cosignees of the goods,
paragraph 6 of the statement of claim is denied”.<o:p></o:p>“(10)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; In answer to Plaintiff’s claims generally,
the Defendants say that as Carriers, they carried 18, 40ft containers with
goods therein consigned by the shipper (consignor) to the Plaintiff’s as
consignees….in two lots as follows:-<o:p></o:p>(i) 6 x 40ft on their boat called
“KADUNA”&nbsp; which arrived at Tema on 22nd
July 1993.<o:p></o:p>(ii) 12 x 40ft on their boat
called&nbsp; “KUMASI” which arrived at Tema on
14th November 1993.”<o:p></o:p>“(15)&nbsp;&nbsp;
The Defendants say that as at 31st day of May 1994 indebtedness in
demurrage and&nbsp; administrative charge of
the 6 x 40ft containers alone stands at ¢45,288,000 which must be paid before
the goods can be released to the Plaintiff or Co-Defendant whichever&nbsp; of them is declared by the Court to be
entitled to the goods.”<o:p></o:p>On
27th May 1994, the Co-Defendant filed its statement of defence. Apart from
paragraphs 3 and 5 thereof, all the remaining paragraphs merely </main>