Marwako Fast Food to appeal court ruling ordering them to pay over GH₵1m in damages



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Marwako
Fast
Food
has
vehemently
disagreed
with
the
court
ruling
ordering
the
company
to
pay
in
excess
of
one
million
Ghana
cedis
for
selling
contaminated
food
to
some
persons.

On
Tuesday,
July
16
news
broke
out
about
the
company
being
ordered
by
an
Accra
High
Court
to
pay
over
one
million
Ghana
cedis
in
damages
to
some
three
siblings
who
were
the
plaintiffs
in
the
matter.

The
Adentan
circuit
court
in
its
ruling
said
it
found
Marwako
guilty
of
breaching
its
duty
of
care
and
selling
food
contaminated
by
pathogens
to
the
plaintiff.

“Consequently,
the
court
finds
that
the
food
items
tested
from
the
Defendant’s
branch
were
indeed
contaminated
with
a
heavy
microbial
load
(pathogens).
However,
there
is
no
evidence
on
record
regarding
the
source
of
this
contamination.

“Therefore,
the
court
concludes
that
the
food
sold
by
the
Defendant’s
East
Legon
branch
to
598
customers,
including
the
1st
Plaintiff,
on
that
day
was
contaminated
with
pathogens,”
the
court
documents
said.


Marwako
ordered
to
pay
over
GH₵1m
in
damages
for
selling
contaminated
food

However,
the
company
is
challenging
the
court’s
ruling.
Speaking
exclusively
to
3News,
Mohammed
Amin
Lamptey,
Head
of
Corporate
Communications
at
Marwako
said
the
company
has
decided
to
appeal
the
court’s
ruling
by
Monday,
July
22.

He
said
the
company
believes
the
court’s
verdict
has
“no
legal
and
factual
basis”
as
there
are
“contradictions”.

“We
(management)
had
a
marathon
meeting
today
[July
16]
with
our
legal
team
to
scrutinize
the
judgement,
and
the
company
lawyer
was
furious
about
the
judgement
because
the
judge
contradicted
herself
in
many
areas
of
her
own
judgement
underpinned
by
plaintiffs
own
claims
and
evidence.
Marwako
Fast
Food
Ltd
has
taken
a
decision
to
file
an
appeal
lastest
by
Monday,”
he
stated.


Background

The
plaintiffs
had
filed
a
writ
of
summons
against
Marwako
Fast
Food
on
January
19,
2023
for
an
alleged
harm
or
injury
they
incurred
from
eating
food
purchased
from
the
East
Legon
branch
of
the
Defendant,
Marwako
Fast
Food.

In
the
suit,
they
prayed
the
court
to
grant
the
following
reliefs;

General
damages
for
physical
injury
suffered
by
the
Plaintiffs.

General
damages
for
psychological
trauma
following
the
injury
and
harm
caused
to
the
Plaintiffs.

General
damage
for
inconvenience
and
general
discomfort
suffered
by
the
Plaintiffs.

An
Order
directed
at
the
Defendant
to
refund
the
amount
of
GHC25,215.48
which
amount
constitutes
special
damages.

Costs
inclusive
of
legal
fees.

The
plaintiffs
claimed
that
they
suffered
physical
injuries,
psychological
trauma,
and
general
discomfort
due
to
food
poisoning
after
purchasing
6
packs
of
fried
rice
from
the
Defendant’s
East
Legon
branch
on
May
8,
2022.

This
was
after
news
broke
out
on
social
media
about
some
other
30
people
experiencing
food
poisoning
after
consuming
food
from
the
East
Legon
branch
of
Marwako.

But
Marwako
in
its
defence
denied
the
allegations
of
food
poisoning
although
it
confirmed
that
the
plaintiff
bought
six
packs
of
fried
rice
from
its
East
Legon
branch.