TENASSA PHARMACEUTICAL & TRADING CO. LTD vs. ISSAKA KOANDA [2012]DLCA6598

Date	2012-05-17
Suit No.	H1/202/2011
Citation No.	[2012]DLCA6598

HENRIETTA ABBAN (MRS) J A (PRESIDING)

S. E. KANYOKE JA

K. A. ACQUAYE JA

MR. JOHN LOUIS NEIZER (PSA) FOR THE DEFENDANT/APPELLANT

MS. AKUSHIKA DADZIE FOR THE PLAINTIFF/RESPONDENT

[2012]DLCA6598
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													<main id="main" class="content" style="min-height: 60rem" >TENASSA
PHARMACEUTICAL &amp; TRADING CO. LTD<o:p></o:p>(PLF/RESP)<o:p></o:p>vs.<o:p></o:p>ISSAKA
KOANDA<o:p></o:p>(DEFENDANT / APPELLANT)<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>[COURT OF APPEAL, ACCRA]<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">

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:
justify;line-height:115%;border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in">MR. JOHN LOUIS NEIZER
(PSA) FOR THE DEFENDANT/APPELLANT <o:p></o:p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:
justify;line-height:115%;border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in">MS. AKUSHIKA DADZIE FOR
THE PLAINTIFF/RESPONDENT <o:p></o:p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
115%;mso-outline-level:1;border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
padding:0in;mso-padding-alt:0in 0in 1.0pt 0in">HENRIETTA ABBAN (MRS), J A
(PRESIDING) S. E. KANYOKE, JA AND K. A. ACQUAYE, JA<o:p></o:p>

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

</div>A.
M. DORDZIE, J.A. FACTS <o:p></o:p>The
plaintiff/respondent herein was originally known as Asante Chemical Stores and
was managed by one Mr. E. B Asante now deceased. I will hereinafter refer to
the parties as plaintiff and defendant. The plaintiff through E.B Asante
applied to Tema Development Corporation (TDC) and was allocated a commercial
plot at Community 11 Tema for the construction of a pharmacy shop. TDC granted
the plaintiff a lease of the property on 26th July1977 for 60 years. The lease
was executed by Mr. E.B Asante. He submitted plans for the construction of the
shop plaintiff acquired the land for and got approval from TDC. The plaintiff
went into possession of the property and deposited materials on the land to
commence development. E. B. Asante plaintiff’s managing director died and soon
after that, the plaintiff discovered that the defendant had encroached upon the
land and started putting up a dwelling house on the land. The defendant
maintained Mr. E. B Asante of Asante Chemical Stores sold the plot of land to
him. The plaintiff instituted an action against the defendant in the High Court
Tema and obtained an injunction order restraining both parties from dealing
with the land. The defendant defied the restraining order, continued to build while
the case was pending and completed building a dwelling house on the plot TDC
had granted approval to the plaintiff to build a commercial property on. <o:p></o:p>The
High Court gave judgment in favour of the plaintiff. <o:p></o:p>The
defendant has appealed against the judgment praying this court to set aside the
said judgment on the following grounds: <o:p></o:p>GROUNDS
OF APPEAL <o:p></o:p>a.
The judgment cannot be supported in law <o:p></o:p>b.
The judgment is against the evidence adduced at the trial <o:p></o:p>c.
The judge unfortunately made wrong findings of fact and/or did not consider the
evidence adequately. <o:p></o:p>d.
The court held wrongly for the plaintiff when the evidence showed that the
property was rather earlier acquired by Mr. E.B. Asante and not the plaintiff <o:p></o:p>e.
Assuming but not admitting that the court’s findings were right, the award of
damages and cost were excessive <o:p></o:p>Grounds
(c) &amp; (d) could be effectively considered under ground (b) and that is what
I will do. <o:p></o:p>In
support of ground (a) counsel for the appellant argued that the trial judge
erred in law by holding that E.B. Asante breached certain covenants of the
leasehold and therefore could not have disposed of the property to the
defendant. The effect of this holding is that the plaintiff who is successor to
Asante Chemical Stores is allowed to benefit from its own wrong at the expense
of an innocent opponent. The judge also failed to take cognizance of possible
regularization of plaintiff’s act of sale as hinted in the leasehold document. <o:p></o:p>It
is wrongful in law to hold that the plaintiff became owner of the disputed
property because at the time the plaintiff company came in to being, the
property had been sold to the defendant by E. B. Asante. <o:p></o:p>