Stating that allegations of fraud have to be specifically pleaded and proven, the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) yesterday overturned a decision of the Guyana Court of Appeal which had found that a woman who bought land from another was involved in fraud.
Instead, the CCJ restored the ruling of the High Court which had dismissed the action brought against the buyer, Merlene Todd, and additionally set aside all other orders made by the local appellate court.
In handing down its ruling, the Trinidad-based court of last resort has also issued a call to the Government of Guyana to urgently consider reform of the Deeds Registry Act.
The case surrounded the sale of land located on the West Half of Lot 153 Queenstown, Georgetown which was owned by Allan Price.
In February 2004, using a Power-of-Attorney subsequently discovered to be fake, Ann Jennifer Jeboo who claimed to have been acting on behalf of Price, sold the lands in question to Todd.
Jeboo was later convicted of fraud; following which Price filed an action in the High Court against both her and Todd, in which he sought to set aside the sale.
He died in 2010, but the proceedings were thereafter pursued by his wife and Executrix of his Estate, Desiree Price.
In a judgment of August 30th, 2012, former Chief Justice Ian Chang dismissed the action against Todd, but awarded damages in the sum of $12,000,000 to Allan Price’s estate against Jeboo.
Wanting the sale, however, for which transport had been passed, to be declared null and void, and owing to the dismissal against Todd, Desiree Price subsequently appealed Justice Chang’s decision.
By Sections 22 (1) of the Deeds Registry Act, every Transport vests in the transferee, full and absolute title, but the proviso to the section contains an exception where the transport is obtained by fraud in the hands of parties thereto.
On March 16th last year, the Guyana Court of Appeal allowed the appeal and declared the sale to have been null and void, thereby finding that Todd was a party to Jeboo’s fraud.
It was this ruling that Todd would later appeal to the Trinidad-based CCJ before which she contended that the local appellate court wrongly found that she was a part of Jeboo’s fraud.
Through her attorneys Manoj Narayan and Rajendra Jaigobin, Todd asked the CCJ to set aside the Court of Appeal’s decision and restore the trial judge’s decision while arguing that the allegations of fraud against her had not formed part of the pleadings.
In allowing the appeal, the CCJ found that while Allan Price’s claim against Jeboo was one of fraud, his action against Todd was not; but instead that by her negligence she contributed to Jeboo’s fraud and the loss of his property.
The CCJ yesterday affirmed Justice Chang’s finding that no fraud had been pleaded against Todd and that it was impermissible at the trial to advance the case of fraud against her and that in any event there was no evidence that she was privy to the fraud.
It was for these reasons that Justice Chang refused to declare the Transport to Todd void and to set it aside.
Among other things, the CCJ found that not only was the allegations of fraud against Todd not pleaded, but that she had not been given the opportunity to respond or defend herself against the allegations.
In delivering the ruling of the court, Justice Jacob Wit said that allegations of fraud must be properly and adequately pleaded, while noting that the allegations of gross negligence which the Court of Appeal found against Todd had also not been pleaded.
Justice Wit said that the Court of Appeal was wrong to find that Todd was a party to fraud and that it erred in making the findings it did.
In delivering the court’s ruling, Justice Wit relayed the observation of Justice Winston Anderson who found that since the original owner had been deprived of his land through no fault of his own, it brings to the fore the need for legislative reform.
Similar sentiments the court heard, were also expressed by Justice Peter Jamadar and Wit himself who both noted that the legislature should review and amend the Deeds Registry Act to revise and improve the law to meet the needs of current land law realities in Guyana.
Further, Justice Jamadar suggested that the Act should be reviewed and assessed as to whether it passes constitutional muster here, and if not, what modifications are required to so do, with explanations of why this should also be done.
Apart from Justices Wit, Anderson and Jamadar, the appeal was also heard by Justices Denys Barrow and Andrew Burgess.
Desiree Price was represented by attorneys K.A. Juman-Yassin SC and Teni Housty.
