DAVID KINGSFORD ANTOH AND MRS. PAULINE ANTOH vs. CYNTHIA DWOMOH GHANSAH [2021]DLHC11348

Date	2021-07-15
Suit No.	SUIT NO. FAL/15/2016
Citation No.	[2021]DLHC11348

HIS LORDSHIP SOLOMON OPPONG-TWUMASI (J)

SAMUEL CODJOE FOR THE PLAINTIFFS

HENRY OPPONG-DWAMENA HOLDING BRIEF FOR KWEKU PAINTSIL FOR THE DEFENDANT

[2021]DLHC11348
																																						<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" >DAVID
KINGSFORD ANTOH AND MRS. PAULINE ANTOH<o:p></o:p>(PLAINTIFFS)<o:p></o:p>vs.<o:p></o:p>CYNTHIA DWOMOH
GHANSAH<o:p></o:p>(DEFENDANT)<o:p></o:p>[HIGH COURT, ACCRA]<o:p></o:p><div style="border-top: none; border-right: none; border-left: none; border-image: initial; border-bottom-width: 1.5pt; border-bottom-color: windowtext; padding: 0cm 0cm 1pt;">

</div>COUNSEL:&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <o:p></o:p>SAMUEL CODJOE FOR
THE PLAINTIFFS <o:p></o:p><div style="border-top: none; border-right: none; border-left: none; border-image: initial; border-bottom-width: 1.5pt; border-bottom-color: windowtext; padding: 0cm 0cm 1pt;">

HENRY OPPONG-DWAMENA HOLDING BRIEF FOR KWEKU
PAINTSIL FOR THE DEFENDANT <o:p></o:p>

</div>CORAM:<o:p></o:p>HIS LORDSHIP SOLOMON
OPPONG-TWUMASI (J)<o:p></o:p><div style="border-top-width: 1.5pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-left: none; border-bottom-width: 1.5pt; border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-right: none; padding: 1pt 0cm;">

<p class="MsoNormal" 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">JUDGEMENT<o:p></o:p>

</div>1.0&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
INTRODUCTION<o:p></o:p>On 13th October, 2013, the 1st
Plaintiff took out of the Registry of this Court a Writ of Summons against the
Defendant seeking the reliefs endorsed on the said Writ of Summons. The Writ
was accompanied by an 11-paragraph Statement of Claim setting out in detail the
nature of the 1st Plaintiff’s claim against the Defendant.<o:p></o:p>1.1&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Upon service of the Writ of Summons and
the Statement of Claim on the Defendant she caused an appearance to be entered
for her by her lawyers on the 29th day of October, 2015. However she
waited until the 1st day of December, 2015 to file her Statement of
Defence. Suffice it to say however that the Defendant filed only a 6-paragraph
Statement of Defence on the 1st day of December, 2015 aforesaid but
later amended same.<o:p></o:p>1.2&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; It will appear from the pleadings that
the case is very simple and therefore it should not have stayed for more than
even two years in the Court. However, later developments including, but not
limited to the “arrival” of the COVID 19 Pandemic, somehow prolonged the trial
of what ordinarily appears to have been a very simple and straight forward
case. But even then if the parties, particularly the Plaintiff, had been a
little bit diligent in the prosecution of the case and the Defendant had also
not been very technical, the case would have been disposed of with dispatch.<o:p></o:p>1.3&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; On the 15th day of February,
2019, the 1st Plaintiff filed an application to join his wife, Pauline Antoh, to the suit as the 2nd
Plaintiff but the Defendant vehemently resisted the said joinder application on
the grounds that the Plaintiff himself through his own showing, had shown that
the said Pauline Antoh had a disability, in that she had a mental disorder or
infirmity of mind and therefore she could not be made a party to the case.<o:p></o:p>1.4&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; It took the Court more than a year to settle
this preliminary point as to whether or not Pauline Antoh, the Plaintiff’s wife,
has a disability. Later however a medical report from the authorities of the
Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, where the Court had referred the case to, stated
that Madam Pauline Antoh was normal and therefore capable of managing her own
affairs.<o:p></o:p>1.5&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Based on this report therefore, Obeng
Manu JA, who was sitting as an additional High Court Judge, then gave the green
light for the said Mrs. Antoh to be joined, paving the way for the case to now
proceed.<o:p></o:p>1.6&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Once again, as indicated earlier, counsel
for the Plaintiff failed yet another technical test; instead of amending the
title of the Writ of Summons to include Mrs. Pauline Antoh as the 2nd
Plaintiff after the Order for Joinder had been made, he did not do so and had
to bring another application some months later seeking leave to amend the title
of the Writ of Summons because according to him soon after the order for
joinder had been made, the COVID 19 Pandemic set in leading to the locking down
of the courts. It was therefore not until the 14th day of May, 2020
that this Court presided over once again by my learned senior brother, Obeng-Manu
JA, granted leave to the 1st Plaintiff to amend the title of the
Writ of Summons thereby finally paving way for the case to progress. <o:p></o:p>1.7&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; FACTS<o:p></o:p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The facts of the case, as stated ar</main>