V/R: Court throws out suit against Class Media Group

The Ho High Court has struck out a case against broadcasting giant Class Media Group (CMG).

The case was brought before the court by the Chairman of the Denu-Main branch of the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) and a working committee member of the Volta Regional Branch of the GPRTU of TUC, Divine Gbadegbe.

According to Mr Gbadegbe, as a member of the Volta Regional Working Committee, he finds it “wrong and intolerable for the 2nd Defendant, CMG to always call the 1stDefendant, Lawrence Atito as representing the GPRTU in the Volta Region and for the 1st Defendant, also, to be misrepresenting himself as having the authority to speak on its behalf.

The Plaintiff further noted that Mr Atito, has “wrongfully and unlawfully been holding out himself on radio stations as well as TV stations as a top official at the Volta Regional level who attends meetings in Accra, the Headquarters of the union.”

The Plaintiff indicated that CMG “owes it a duty to him and other members of the working committee to find out which officer was the duly authorised member of the Union allowed to speak for and on its behalf.”

He further indicated that CMG “had been negligent in arbitrarily picking out” Mr Atito as the spokes person for the Volta Region Working Committee members of the GPRTU of the TUC.

The plaintiff therefore brought the matter to the court for it to restrain the defendants from their “wrongful conduct.”

He was therefore seeking a declaration by the court that: “the 1st Defendant is not the authority to act as a spokesperson of the Volta Region Working Committee members of the GPRTU of the TUC, an order of perpetual injunction restraining the 1st Defendant from holding out himself as an official member or officer of the Volta Region working committee members of the GPRTU of TUC or an executive member thereof on any radio or television station.”

He was also seeking “ an order of perpetual injunction restraining the 2nd Defendant from in any way engaging the 1st Defendant and holding him out as representing the GPRTU of TUC in the Volta Region and or any other person without the prior consent of the Volta Region working committee members of the GPRTU of TUC, General damages and Costs including lawyer’s legal fees.”

Delivering his ruling on the case, Presiding Judge Justice George Boadi noted that: “From the pleadings, it is evident that the plaintiff seems to be representing the Ghana Private Road Transport Union and that his cause of action is that the 1st Defendant is purporting to be acting and making some statements that affect his GPRTU.”

Also, “his case against 2nd Defendant is that, the latter afforded 1st defendant with the platform to be pursuing that action/course.

“Plaintiff therefore seems to be purporting to be acting for GPRTU for whom he appears to have filed a suit.”

Justice Boadi further noted that: “According to the rule, the plaintiff should have disclosed his capacity as Representative of the GPRTU as it is a legal entity which can sue and be sued.

“The plaintiff refused to disclose his capacity in the suit against the defendants.”

The court therefore held that the “Plaintiff does not have the capacity he claims, to mount the action, personally without the GPRTU’s consent and involvement,” thus, the suit had no “foundation in law to be allowed to proceed.”

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The court also awarded an amount of GHS 2000 each against the plaintiff.