[2022]DLHC11742 Login to Read Full Case <span style="font-size: 18px !important;"><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt; text-align:center"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family:"Book Antiqua",serif; color:#00B0F0">EDWARD OFORI AMOAH<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt; text-align:center"><i><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family:"Book Antiqua",serif">(PLAINTIFF)<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt; text-align:center"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family:"Book Antiqua",serif; color:#00B0F0">vs.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt; text-align:center"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family:"Book Antiqua",serif; color:#00B0F0">MADAM STELLA ANDREWS &WILLIAM BORTSI E. ANDREWS<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt; text-align:center"><i><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family:"Book Antiqua",serif">(DEFENDANTS)<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt; text-align:center"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif">[HIGH COURT, ACCRA]<o:p></o:p></span></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;"> <p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt; text-align:center;border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext 1.5pt; padding:0cm;mso-padding-alt:0cm 0cm 1.0pt 0cm"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"Book Antiqua",serif">SUIT NO: GJ/1598/2014 DATE: 16<sup>TH</sup> JUNE, 2022<o:p></o:p></span></p> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align: justify"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"Book Antiqua",serif">COUNSEL <o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align: justify"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family:"Book Antiqua",serif">DANIYAL ABDUL-KARIM WITH CECIL QUARTEY FOR THE PLAINTIFF - PRESENT<o:p></o:p></span></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;"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align: justify;border:none;mso-border-bottom-alt:solid windowtext 1.5pt;padding:0cm; mso-padding-alt:0cm 0cm 1.0pt 0cm"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height: 107%;font-family:"Book Antiqua",serif">PAA KWESI ABAIDOO WITH OHENEWAA ABOAGYE (MRS.) FOR THE DEFENDANTS – PRESENT<o:p></o:p></span></p> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align: justify"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"Book Antiqua",serif">CORAM<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align: justify"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family:"Book Antiqua",serif">HIS LORDSHIP JUSTICE KWEKU T. ACKAAH-BOAFO<o:p></o:p></span></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="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt; text-align:center;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"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height: 107%;font-family:"Book Antiqua",serif">JUDGMENT<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align: justify"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"Book Antiqua",serif"> </span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align: justify"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"Book Antiqua",serif">i. Introduction:<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"Book Antiqua",serif">[1] The time has come to talk of many things — of a man who had contracted a monogamous marriage in the United States of America and his apparent belief that he could contract a valid customary marriage in Ghana — of a young woman who allegedly being aware of the existing marriage of the man and nevertheless agreeing to marry him and actually organizing and ‘hiring’ people to represent the man as his family members at the marriage, — of the validity of marriage that produced four children, three of whom are presently alive — and of provision of substantial amounts of money by the Plaintiff to the Defendants to supervise projects for him and the Defendants’ alleged abandonment of the Plaintiff and failure to account for their stewardship — and whether the 1st Defendant has used the Plaintiff’s monies received for the projects to acquire properties in her name at his blind side and whether the instant suit is just an action by a bitter man (Plaintiff) who just cannot accept the fact that the 1st Defendant ended the relationship with him and has moved on or this is an action to salvage the Plaintiff’s investments and ‘right’ a wrong?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"Book Antiqua",serif"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"Book Antiqua",serif">[2] Those questions arise in this civil litigation, in which the Plaintiff, Edward Ofori Amoah, seeks an order directed at the Defendants to “account fully” for the various sums of money received for the development of projects they supervised for him as his agents, an order on the 1st Defendant to document certain properties in the name of the Plaintiff, recovery of Plaintiff’s personal properties in possession of the Defendants, damages for loss of personal belongings unaccounted for by the Defendants and the Defendants’ counterclaim for declaration of title to certain properties including “a three storey shop building on the Spintex Road Baatsona, Tema” and Property No. B22, Emefs Lagoon Estates, Sakumono, Tema together with “the one - storey coastal estate property, Tema”.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"Book Antiqua",serif"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family:"Book Antiqua",serif">ii. The Action:<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"Book Antiqua",serif">[3] On 24th November, 2016, the Plaintiff caused a Writ of Summons with a Statement of Claim against the Defendants for the following judicial reliefs:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"Book Antiqua",serif">a. An order on the Defendants to account fully to the Plaintiff for the various sums of money received from him directly and through his agents, Samuel Acheampong in Germany and Godwin Kuffour in Accra, for the development of his properties in Ghana that Defendants were undertaking for him.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"Book Antiqua",serif">b. In the alternative, the recovery of sums:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"Book Antiqua",serif">i. € 717,220.00, ii. US$ 607,641.00, iii. </span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">₵</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family:"Book Antiqua",serif"> 577, 400, 000 (old Cedis) and iv. GH</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"Book Antiqua",serif;mso-bidi-font-family:"Book Antiqua"">¢</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:107%;font-family:"Book Antiqua",serif"> 100,619.00 <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"Book Antiqua",serif">being the sums advanced to the Defendants for the development of Plaintiff’s properties in Ghana.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"Book Antiqua",serif">c. Interest on the said sums or the balance unaccounted for at the prevailing US dollar/ Euro/ Ghana Cedis bank interest rates from January 2005 till date of final payment.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"Book Antiqua",serif">d. An order on the 1st Defendant to document the Spintex Road stores property in the name of Plaintiff or in the alternative an order on the Coastal Estates Limited to effect the transfer of the same into Plaintiff’s name.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"Book Antiqua",serif">e. Recovery of personal properties of Plaintiff still in possession and custody of the Defendants.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"Book Antiqua",serif">f. Damages for loss of any personal belongings or properties of Plaintiff unaccounted for by the Defendants.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-family:"Book Antiqua",serif">g. Costs inclusive of Plaintiff’s travel expenses from the USA to prosecute this suit and Solicitors’ fees or charges.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; line-height:107%;font-fam