Court adjourns Cruise People Limited and Black Sherif case to Nov. 16
The Adenta High Court has adjourned the legal case between Cruise People Limited and Mohammed Ismail Sherif known in the entertainment industry as Black Sherif to November 16, 2023.
At the court, Her Ladyship Mariama Sammo ordered both parties to write down their legal arguments and file them by November 2, 2023.
The BET award-winner Black Sherif had filed a motion that Ghana (and for that matter the high court in Adenta) had no jurisdiction to determine the case because according to him the contract for his performance stipulates that any legal proceedings shall be heard in the United Kingdom.
Cruise People Limited, through its lawyers also filed an affidavit in opposition on grounds that the Adenta High Court has jurisdiction to hear and determine the case because both parties are Ghanaians and ply their trades in Ghana.
In attendance at the hearing were the plaintiff Daniel Vanderpuye, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Cruise People Limited and their counsels and Black Sherif’s road manager Frederick Osei aka Aubrey.
The adjournment of the case to November 16, 2023, gives both parties time to prepare and file their legal arguments. The court will then review the arguments and make a decision on whether or not it has jurisdiction to hear the case.
The reigning VGMA Artiste of the Year was arrested at the Kotoka International Airport(KIA) on Wednesday, July 19, in the evening and sent to the police headquarters in Accra for a breach of contract.
It will be recalled that Cruise People Limited later filed a lawsuit against the award-winning musician.
In a writ of summon at the High Court, the Cruise company indicated that Black Sherif honors an agreement between them leading to the cancellation of the Afro Cruise Jam concert that was scheduled for August 2023.
Cruise People Limited noted in the suit that after booking Black Sherif for the cruise and paying half of his booking fee ($20,000), the ‘Second Sermon’ hitmaker was expected to make a video confirming his participation in the event in Greece.
The Plaintiff claimed that after assurances that Black Sherif would send the video ahead of the media launch on May 19, the company paid $18,000 to secure cabins on the cruise and paid GHS65,000 to Joy FM for the launch on Drive Time.
“The Plaintiff avers that as a result of the Defendant’s willful neglect and or refusal to confirm his musical performance on the Joy FM radio show through the video clip, the paid deposit of $18,000 for the cabins on the cruise ship was lost to the cruise line due to the cancellation of the booking of the cabins since the expected Interests and patronage of the event could not be guaranteed,” part of the suit read.
Cruise People Limited added that Black Sherif knew that failure to perform “his obligations”(confirming his participation) would jeopardize the event since the patronage of the event, they stated, was dependent on the Defendant announcing his availability to perform on the cruise ship.
They added that this conduct constitutes a fundamental breach of the agreement executed on the 18th of April 2023, and defeats the agreement in its entirety.