A judge at the Federal High Court summoned Mesele Haile (PhD), general manager of luxury brand Country Club Developers (CCD), to explain why the company failed to deliver six housing units after losing a fierce multiyear court battle.

Mesele will appear before the Federal High Court Six Civil Bench of Lideta Division tomorrow and explain why his company did not deliver the homes to the six home buyers after the Court’s ruling.

The six home buyers initiated the case eight years ago by claiming that the company has failed to deliver the homes within the contractually stipulated 18-month schedule. They also claimed that the real estate developer terminated their agreements as they declined to sign an amended agreement with new terms and conditions.

The home buyers were asked to make an additional payment of half a million Birr due to an inflationary rise in the cost of construction materials. All 1,000 homebuyers, except the current judgment creditors, refused to make the increased payment.

The six homebuyers bought the homes in Legatafo, 11Km northeast of the capital, between 2006 and 2007 within a range of 1.7 million Br to 3.1 million Br. The developer had leased 70ha of land for 99 years at a cost of 0.7 Br a square metre.

The management of the real estate firm canceled the contracts of the six buyers following their refusal to settle the increased payments and took the case to the Federal High Court.

The first trial concluded in a victory for the plaintifs when the court ordered the developer to transfer the houses to the home buyers according to the terms and conditions in the initial contract.

CCD then appealed to the Supreme Court, where the ruling of the lower court was sustained. CCD then took the case to the Court of Cassation that favoured the home buyers by ordering CCD to deliver the houses to the home buyers with no price adjustment.