CSC PARADISE ESTATE LTD & ORS vs. IBRAHIM JAJAH & ORS [2018]DLCA4615

Date	2018-03-01
Suit No.	CIVIL APPEAL NO: H1/136/2017
Citation No.	[2018]DLCA4615

F. G. KORBIEH JA (Presiding)

B. F. ACKAH-YENSU JA

I. O. TANKO AMADU JA

MR. GEORGE THOMPSON FOR 1ST APPELLANT

MR. JAMES AHENKORAH FOR RESPONDENTS

[2018]DLCA4615
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													<main id="main" class="content" style="min-height: 60rem" >CSC PARADISE ESTATE LTD &amp; ORS
<o:p></o:p>(PLAINTIFFS/APPELLANTS)<o:p></o:p>vs.<o:p></o:p>IBRAHIM JAJAH &amp; ORS <o:p></o:p>(DEFENDANTS/RESPONDENTS)<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;
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CIVIL
APPEAL NO: H1/136/2017&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;DATE: 1ST
MARCH, 2018<o:p></o:p>

</div>COUNSEL:<o:p></o:p>MR. GEORGE THOMPSON FOR 1ST APPELLANT<o:p></o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
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MR. JAMES AHENKORAH FOR RESPONDENTS<o:p></o:p>

</div>CORAM:
<o:p></o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
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F.
G. KORBIEH JA (Presiding), B. F. ACKAH-YENSU JA, I. O. TANKO AMADU 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;
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JUDGMENT<o:p></o:p>

</div>BARBARA
ACKAH-YENSU (Ms) JA<o:p></o:p>This is an interlocutory appeal from the Ruling of the
High Court, Accra, delivered on 15th December, 2016.&nbsp; The 1st Plaintiff/Appellant (referred
to hereinafter as the Appellant) prays this Court to set aside the Ruling and
for the amendments sought by the Defendant/Respondents to be disallowed.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>These are the antecedents of this case:<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>The Plaintiffs filed a joint Writ of Summons on 28th
February, 2016 against the 1st Defendant/Respondent, making inter alia a claim for declaration that Appellant
had not divested itself of its interest in the parcel of land lying at Oko
Village near Dome, and that it still had title thereto. The Appellant asserted
that by document registered as No.2627/1976, its grantor, Central Services
Company Limited, acquired a large tract of land encompassing the land in
dispute from the Onamrokor Adain family of Accra.&nbsp; Subsequently, Central Services Co. Ltd
granted a sub-lease of the land to the Appellant for real estate
development.&nbsp; 2nd Plaintiff,
on the other hand, averred that he erroneously acquired a portion of the said
land in 1976 from the Owoo Family of Oko Village.&nbsp; He immediately took possession of the land and
built a fence wall around three sides. 2nd Plaintiff subsequently
gave four plots of land within the portion he acquired to the 3rd
Plaintiff who built two houses thereon and completed same in 2005.&nbsp; The 2nd Plaintiff also built two
other houses on his portion of the land between 2004-2007. It was when the 2nd
Plaintiff attempted to register the land that he realised that per the records
of the Lands Commission, the land was actually owned by the Appellant.&nbsp; 2nd Plaintiff therefore approached
the Appellant who accepted to regularise same for him and the 3rd
Plaintiff. The case of all the Plaintiffs’ was that 1st Defendant had
trespassed on the land in dispute.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>Upon service of the writ on the 1st
Defendant, he applied to join the 2nd Defendant on the ground that 2nd
Defendant was the owner of the land and that he, 1st Defendant, was
just the Managing Director of 2nd Defendant/Company. Attached to the
Application was the 2nd Defendant’s deed of title which traced its
root of title to the Appellant and its grantor, Central Services Co. Ltd. The
Plaintiffs then filed an Amended Writ and Statement of Claim in which they
stated that the document by which the 1st Plaintiff purportedly
divested itself of its interest in the land to the 2nd Defendant’s
grantor in 2005 bore a signature of one Mansour Abou-Chedid who died in the
year 1985. Thus, any transaction founded on same, including the alleged
assignment of the land, subject matter of this suit, to one Abdul Hamid Issaka
and its subsequent assignment to the 2nd Defendant, is a child of
fraud.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>The original lawyer for the Defendants/Respondents
filed a Statement of Defence in which, for the first time, they contended that
they acquired the land in dispute from the Onamrokor Adai</main>