NANA ADJEI PANIN vs. NANA OTUO ANTWI BOASIAKO [2020]DLCA9206

Date	2020-07-30
Suit No.	SUIT NO. H1/56/2020
Citation No.	[2020]DLCA9206

ANGELINA M. DOMAKYAAREH (MRS.) JA. (PRESIDING)

A. B. POKU-ACHEAMPONG JA.

SAMUEL K.A. ASIEDU JA.

SOLOMON OPPONG TWUMASI FOR THE DEFENDANT/APPELLANT

OSEI BOATENG FOR THE PLAINTIFF/RESPONDENT

[2020]DLCA9206
																																						<div class="restriction-wrapper">
														<div class="container-lg">
															<div class="row">
																<div class="col-md-12 restricted-content">
																	<div class="restricted-content-img-wrapper">
																		<div class="lock-icon bounce-7">
																			<img class=""
																				src="https://www.dennislawgh.com/dl-assets/dl-images/lock-content.png"
																				alt="Subscription based content">
																		</div>
																	</div>
																	 
																		<a href="https://www.dennislawgh.com/login"
																		class="btn btn-primary btn-lg"
																		style="font-family: 'open sans'; text-transform: capitalize; border-radius: 8px"> 
																		Login to Read Full Case </a>
																	 
																	
																</div>
															</div>
														</div>
													</div>
													<main id="main" class="content" style="min-height: 60rem" >NANA ADJEI PANIN<o:p></o:p>(DEFENDANT/APPELLANT)<span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:
115%;font-family:&quot;Book Antiqua&quot;,serif;mso-fareast-font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;;
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;mso-bidi-font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;"><o:p></o:p>vs.<o:p></o:p>NANA OTUO ANTWI BOASIAKO<o:p></o:p>(PLAINTIFF/RESPONDENT)<o:p></o:p><span style="font-size:
10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:&quot;Book Antiqua&quot;,serif;mso-fareast-font-family:
&quot;Times New Roman&quot;;mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;mso-bidi-font-family:
&quot;Times New Roman&quot;">[COURT OF APPEAL, KUMASI]<o:p></o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
padding:0cm 0cm 1.0pt 0cm">

</div>COUNSEL:<o:p></o:p>SOLOMON OPPONG TWUMASI FOR THE
DEFENDANT/APPELLANT<o:p></o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
padding:0cm 0cm 1.0pt 0cm">

OSEI
BOATENG FOR THE PLAINTIFF/RESPONDENT <o:p></o:p>

</div>CORAM:
<o:p></o:p>ANGELINA M. DOMAKYAAREH (MRS.) JA.
(PRESIDING), A. B. POKU-ACHEAMPONG JA., SAMUEL K.A. ASIEDU JA.<o:p></o:p><div style="mso-element:para-border-div;border-top:solid windowtext 1.5pt;
border-left:none;border-bottom:solid windowtext 1.5pt;border-right:none;
padding:1.0pt 0cm 1.0pt 0cm">

<p class="MsoNoSpacing" align="center" style="text-align:center;line-height:115%;
border:none;mso-border-top-alt:solid windowtext 1.5pt;mso-border-bottom-alt:
solid windowtext 1.5pt;padding:0cm;mso-padding-alt:1.0pt 0cm 1.0pt 0cm">JUDGMENT<o:p></o:p>

</div>ASIEDU, JA.<o:p></o:p>My
Lords, this is an appeal against the decision of the High Court, Kumasi
delivered on the 30th May 2018 in which the trial High Court Judge
entered judgment in favour of the Plaintiff herein against the Defendant. The
judgment of the High Court can be found from page 313 to page 349 of the Record
of Appeal (ROA). <o:p></o:p>THE
NOTICE OF APPEAL:<o:p></o:p>We
wish to register our dissatisfaction for, and displeasure with the manner in
which the Notice of Appeal, which was filed on the 26th June 2018,
was carelessly prepared by counsel for the Appellant. It is clear that not only
did counsel fail to give a professional touch to the preparation of the Notice
of Appeal but counsel failed altogether to spend even a few minutes to read
through the Notice of Appeal after its preparation, This is so because upon
reading through the judgment, one is left in no doubt that the High Court Judge
found for the Plaintiff/Respondent against the Defendant/Appellant, yet,
counsel for the Appellant described the Plaintiff rather as the Appellant and,
the Defendant who was appealing, was described as the Respondent. To make
matters worse, at paragraph 4 of the Notice of Appeal, counsel titled it “relief(s)
being sought from the High Court” when the appeal is in fact being made to
the Court of Appeal. Counsel did not end there but beneath the wrong title to
paragraph 4 counsel wrote “that the judgment of 31st May, 2018
&amp; costs entered against the Plaintiff/Appellant be set aside and judgment
entered in favour of the Plaintiff/Appellant.” The judgment itself was
delivered on the 30th May 2018, yet counsel stated in the Notice of
Appeal that the judgment was delivered on 31st May 2018. It will not
be out of place for an argument to be made that since no judgment was delivered
on the 31st May 2018, there is no appeal properly so called before
this Court. Counsel again went ahead to state at paragraph 5 of the Notice of
Appeal that the person directly affected by the appeal is “Nana Adjei Panin”
even when the records show that the judgment was entered against Nana Adjei
Panin, the Defendant and in favour of Nana Otuo Antwi Boasiako, who was the Plaintiff.
As if counsel was not sure of the person who has hired his services, counsel
went ahead to sign the Notice of Appeal as “solicitor for the Plaintiff/Appellant”
when in fact the Plaintiff was not appealing against any judgment. Finally,
counsel asked that a copy of his ill-prepared Notice of Appeal be served on “the
Defendant/Respondent” when in fact the Defendant was not the person
responding to the appeal. <o:p></o:p>Counsel
will be advised to patiently exercise some amount of professionalism and
tactfulness in the preparation of whatever process that is meant to be filed
before our Courts. For, the lackadaisical way in which counsel prepared the
instant Notice of Appeal does not, in our view, augur well for his own image. A
few minutes spent to read through the process would have avoided this
embarrassment. As it stands, the Notice of Appeal has the potential to confuse
the issues if care is not taken. Indeed, the Notice</main>