FELIX SETH QUARTEY vs. MATTY ROSELYN ARTHUR AND MR. LESLIE [2019]DLHC9013

Date	2019-05-21
Suit No.	SUIT NO. LD/0054/19
Citation No.	[2019]DLHC9013

HER LADYSHIP JUSTICE BARBARA TETTEH-CHARWAY (MRS)

GODFRED ANIM NYARKO FOR PLAINTIFF

ERNEST DELA AKATEY FOR DEFENDANTS

[2019]DLHC9013
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													<main id="main" class="content" style="min-height: 60rem" >FELIX SETH QUARTEY<o:p></o:p>(PLAINTIFF)<o:p></o:p>vs.<o:p></o:p>MATTY ROSELYN ARTHUR AND
MR. LESLIE<o:p></o:p>(DEFENDANTS)<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>[HIGH COURT (LAND DIVISION), ACCRA]<o:p></o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
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SUIT
NO. LD/0054/19&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; &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:
21ST MAY, 2019<o:p></o:p>

</div>COUNSEL:<o:p></o:p>GODFRED ANIM NYARKO FOR
PLAINTIFF&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; <o:p></o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
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ERNEST
DELA AKATEY FOR DEFENDANTS&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <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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</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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</div><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>At the Application for Directions
stage, counsel for the Defendants filed three additional issues. The third
issue was: “whether or not the Plaintiff’s
action was caught by the Statute of Limitations Act, 1972, N.R.C.D 54 and the
doctrine of laches and acquiescence.” The Court therefore set this issue down
as a preliminary issue for determination.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>The Plaintiff’s case is that he
acquired a large tract of land measuring 4.76 acres from the Nii Owoo Family in
1988. He went into possession by clearing the land and mounting pillars around
it. He also caused his interest in the land to be registered at the Lands
Commission as evidenced by a search report attached to his application for
injunction. Plaintiff further claims that he gave a section of the land to one
Felix Gyamfi but has exercised various acts of ownership over the remaining
part. <o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>According to the Plaintiff, he first
discovered the presence of 1st Defendant on the land in dispute in
2012. She had then put up a shabby security post on a section of the land and
was living in it as a squatter. He claims he caused persons to break the metal
gate on the security post to force the 1st Defendant to leave the
land. <o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>Subsequently, 1st Defendant,
in the company of two persons known to Plaintiff as Efo Gadabui and John Owusu,
approached him and offered to buy the land in dispute from him but he refused
to sell it to them and ordered them to vacate the land. <o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>He further claims that the Defendants
informed him that the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (A.M.A) had refused to issue
them with a building permit because they had no title in the land in dispute.
According to the Plaintiff, the Defendants had pulled down the shabby security
post and were in the process of constructing a bigger structure. These facts
led the plaintiff to commence the instant action against the Defendants.<o:p></o:p><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p>The Defendants’ case, on the other
hand, is that the 1st Defendant acquired the land in dispute from
the Nii Owoo Family of Gbese, Faase in 2000 and immediately went into possession
of same. By 2004, she had completed a five bedroom structure on the land which
she pulled down in 2018 to pave way for the construction of a storey building.
She claimed that prior to 2018, she had not been challenged by the Plaintiff or
anyone else as to ownership of the land in dispute. <o:p></o:p>