Wakilii

Matiya Byabalema & 2 ors v Uganda Transport Company [1993] UGSC 18

Supreme Court · 1993 Appeal Allowed ✦ AI-generated summary ↓ Download
Jurisdiction
Uganda
Case Type
Civil appeal from a High Court assessment of general damages for personal injuries
Decision
Appeal allowed; general damages increased to shs 9 million (first appellant), shs 1.5 million (second appellant) and shs 2 million (third appellant)

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Cited — treatment unverified cited in 1 (treatment unverified) Derived from citing cases in the Wakilii corpus — not an assertion that this case is good law.

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Holding

The Supreme Court allowed the appeal, holding that an appellate court may interfere with a damages award only where the trial judge applied a wrong principle or the figure is so inordinately high or low as to be a wholly erroneous estimate. The trial judge erred by treating an above-knee amputation as equivalent to a below-knee amputation and by relying on outdated awards that ignored severe currency devaluation; current awards reflecting present purchasing power are the better guide. He also wrongly dismissed the third appellant's claim despite an admission of liability. General damages were substituted upward to shs 9 million, shs 1.5 million and shs 2 million respectively.

Facts

The three appellants were passengers in the respondent's bus when it collided with an army lorry on the Kampala–Masaka Road on 8 August 1988. The respondent admitted 80% liability, the balance being attributed to the army lorry, and the matter proceeded only to assessment of damages. The first appellant, a 40-year-old builder and painter, suffered a crush injury leading to an above-knee amputation with 60% permanent disability. The second appellant, a 32-year-old carpenter, sustained a compound fracture of the left femur which united with one-inch shortening and knee stiffness, 25% disability. The third appellant, a 32-year-old tailor, sustained a fracture of the right hip reduced by 30 degrees with 30% disability. The trial judge awarded the first appellant shs 4 million and the second shs 600,000, and dismissed the third appellant's claim on the basis of an apparent contradiction between her evidence of dislocation and the doctor's evidence of a fracture.

Issues

  1. Whether the general damages awarded to the first and second appellants for their injuries were so inordinately low as to justify appellate interference.
  2. Whether the trial Judge erred in principle by treating an above-knee amputation as equivalent to a below-knee amputation in assessing damages.
  3. Whether the trial Judge was entitled to assess damages by reference to older awards given the devaluation of the Uganda shilling.
  4. Whether the trial Judge erred in dismissing the third appellant's claim where the respondent had already admitted liability.

Orders

  • Appeal allowed with costs to the appellants.
  • Awards and order of the trial court set aside.
  • Award of shs 9,000,000 as general damages substituted for the first appellant.
  • Award of shs 1,500,000 as general damages substituted for the second appellant.
  • Award of shs 2,000,000 as general damages made to the third appellant.
  • Appellants to have the costs of the appeal and of the proceedings in the High Court.

Key headnotes

Damages — Appellate Interference with Award — Wrong Principle or Wholly Erroneous Estimate
An appellate court may interfere with an award of damages only where it is satisfied that the trial judge applied a wrong principle of law or that the amount is so inordinately high or low as to be a wholly erroneous estimate of the damage.
Damages — Personal Injury — Amputation — Distinction Between Above-Knee and Below-Knee
In assessing damages for leg injuries involving amputation, the court must distinguish between amputation above the knee and below the knee, as greater disability and larger awards generally attend amputation in the thigh.
Damages — Assessment — Effect of Currency Devaluation — Use of Recent Awards
Damages should be assessed by reference to the current value of money in terms of the goods and services it can purchase; older awards are of little guidance where the currency has since suffered drastic devaluation, and mere conversion of past awards through historical exchange rates is not a realistic guide.
Civil Procedure — Admission of Liability — Reversal at Assessment Stage
Where liability has been admitted and the matter set down only for assessment of damages, the trial judge may not reverse that admission and dismiss the claim absent valid grounds, and must assess the damages that would have been awarded.
Evidence — Medical Evidence — Lay Description of Injury Versus Doctor's Classification
An apparent contradiction between a lay claimant's description of an injury (for example, dislocation) and a doctor's classification (for example, fracture) is not necessarily material, since only a medical witness can give an authoritative classification of an injury, and the doctor's evidence should be preferred.

Legislation cited (1)

  • Supreme Court Rules r.97

Cases cited (12)

  • Henry H. Ilanga v Manyoka (1961) EA 705
  • Nance v British Columbia Electric Railway Co Ltd (1951) AC 601
  • Flint v Lovell (1935) 1 KB 354
  • Davies v Powell Duffryn Associated Collieries Ltd [1942] AC 601
  • Associated Architects v Christine Nazziwa (Civil Appeal No. 5 of 1981)
  • yg v_Jmbe Mines Ltd (1972) EA 341
  • Kyambadde v Uganda Electricity Board (HCCS No. 1 of 1990)
  • Godfrey Katerega v Uganda Electricity Board (HCCS No. 93(b) of 1989)
  • Wamala Stephen v Abdu Kabuzi (HCCS No. 981 of 1989)
  • Erisa Musamali v Uganda Electricity Board (HCCS No. 8 of 1990)
  • Christopher Kiggundu and Another v UTC (1975) Ltd (Civil Appeal No. 7 of 1993)
  • Marion Akankwasa v Attorney General (1982) HCB 69
Source: this page presents Wakilii’s issue analysis and metadata for a publicly reported Ugandan judgment. Any AI-generated summary is marked as such. Judgment text is sourced from the Uganda Legal Information Institute (ulii.org). Wakilii is not affiliated with ULII.