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09.06.2008 General News

Djentuh`s fail in court Court dismisses suit against solid FM CEO …As it finds no evidence of fraud

09.06.2008 LISTEN
By Sebastian R. Freiku, - Ghanaian Chronicle

AN ACCRA High Court, presided over by Mr. Justice K. A. Ofori Atta, has dismissed an action instituted by O'Sullivan Estates Limited, and Maria O'Sullivan Djentuh, against James Kwasi Oppong, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Solid FM in Kumasi, and Paulina Oppong.

The court at a sitting on May 16, this year, dismissed a charge of fraud, on the part of defendants, in a suit in which the second plaintiff claimed that she had been misdescribed, in an earlier action taken against her, by the defendants.

The court, basing its judgment on pleadings, and evidence on record, upheld that it had found no evidence of fraud, on the part of the defendants.

In December 1999, the defendants, as plaintiffs in a suit L604/99, sued Maria Jentuma (Djentuh), claiming a declaration of title to a parcel of land at Nungua, recovery of possession, damages for trespassing, and an injunction.

When she was notified of the hearing and assessment of damages, she did not bother about the suit, as a result of which judgment was entered in favour of the plaintiffs, and judgment after trial, subsequently filed and served on the defendant (Mariam).

But when the plaintiffs (the Oppongs) attempted an execution of the judgment, a corporate body, O'Sullivan Estates Limited, claimed to have been affected by the judgment, and sought to set it aside, but was refused by the trial court, presided over by Mrs. Justice Agyeman Bempah.
Consequently, the company applied for a stay of execution, before the Court of Appeal, which also refused the application.

When this failed, the company launched a fresh action, charging fraud, claiming that the defendants knew the true names of the defendant in the first suit, and that by an act of deceit and fraud, the defendants failed to draw their attention to the pendency of the suit, and surreptitiously obtained judgment against the plaintiffs.

The plaintiffs in the fresh suit, said the defendants had no valid title to the land, and that they (plaintiffs), were the valid owners of the land, yet defendants had laid false claim to their land, which they were threatening to take possession of, by virtue of the judgment in the first suit brought against the plaintiffs earlier.

The plaintiff company, in imputing fraud, declared that the defendants knew the company was in occupation of the land, yet they failed to sue the company for recovery of possession of the land.

But the court said the statement of claim by the plaintiffs, did not show any particulars of fraud and deceit, as set out by the rules of procedure of Order 11 Rule 12(1) of the High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules 2004 CI 47.

A cost of GH¢2,500 was awarded the defendants, who were represented by Kumasi-based Lawyer J. K. Kodua, with David Kuduadzi standing in for the plaintiff company.

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