You erred in obtaining judgement debt - Sole commissioner tells attorney
A lawyer who succeeded in obtaining a judgement debt of GH¢42,000 for his client using a power of attorney was yesterday told by the Judgement Debt Commission that he erred in taking that action.
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According to the commission, the lawyer, Mr Seth Mensa Dumoga, was in error because the power of attorney did not direct for any action to be instituted for claims in the court.
More so, it said, the said action undertaken with the power of attorney was not known to the person who had allegedly issued the power, one Nana Sankrankye Atta.
According to the Sole Commissioner, Mr Justice Yaw Apau, it was unknown in law for a lawyer to institute an action using a power of attorney without recourse to the donor of that power.
But in a mild banter, Mr Dumoga maintained that the power of attorney had expressly charged him to pursue all claims and that did not limit him from pursuing the court.
In a counter, however, Mr Justice Apau held that the said claims, as contained in the power of attorney, were to be pursued with the Lands Commission and not the court, adding, “You must see the one giving you the power. You cannot verify the power of attorney if you do not see the person himself and that is the beef of the plaintiff — that he did not know you.”
He said Mr Dumoga and those he represented shot themselves in the foot by attaching a declaration to their documents to the effect that the plaintiff, Nana Atta, was not the head of the family, meaning he had no capacity to have issued a power of attorney, and yet succeeded in using the power of attorney issued by the plaintiff to secure a judgement debt.
Mr Justice Apau told Mr Dumoga that he (Dumoga) had added a declaration that gave a history which showed that the plaintiff had no locus and no capacity to make that claim, adding that ordinarily, that power of attorney should have been used to pursue claims with the Lands Commission and if that had failed, then he could have proceeded to court, but the lawyer instead proceeded to court without recourse to the Lands Commission.
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“The declaration you added to the matter speaks for itself. The declaration defeats the whole matter, the root of the case. It is like building without a foundation,” he asserted.
Facts of case
Nana Atta is alleged to have issued a power of attorney to one Mr Emmanuel Ofori to make claims regarding a family land that had been given out to the Jasikan District Assembly with the Lands Commission.
However, Mr Dumoga, the lawyer for Mr Ofori, instituted a court action in 2008 and got a judgement for the payment of GH¢42,000 the same year.
Nana Atta, nonetheless, petitioned the Judgement Debt Commission that he knew nothing of the said transaction and that he had never met Mr Dumoga.
The Jasikan District Assembly has since taken the case up on appeal.
Counsel for the commission, Mr Kofi Dometi Sokpor, told the media in a post-sitting briefing that since judgement was given by the court for the payment of GH¢42,000 in 2008, interest had been piling on the amount at a compounded rate of 30 per cent, thereby raising the amount to GH¢997,000 currently.