Wakilii

Abdulali Jiwanjee and Co. Ltd v Highland Commercial Union (Civil Suit No. 42 of 1952)

East African Court of Appeal · [1952] EACA 3 · 1952 Application Dismissed AI-generated summary ↓ Download Pin to watchlist Add to matter
Jurisdiction
Uganda
Case Type
Application by plaintiff to amend plaint to correct defendant's name after service and partial payment
Decision
Application dismissed with costs to defendants

Observed later treatment

No later-treatment classification is recorded for this judgment.

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Holding

Application to amend plaint by substituting correct corporate name of defendant dismissed where plaintiff accepted substantial payment after filing suit, sought to backdate amendment, and acted in bad faith by attempting to deny credit for payment received. Justice of the case did not require amendment where only small disputed balance remained and defendant would be prejudiced.

Outcome

Application dismissed with costs to defendants

Facts

Plaintiff filed suit on 8 February 1952 against Highland Commercial Union for goods sold and delivered. Summons was accepted on 19 February 1952 on behalf of Highland Commercial Union Ltd. On 26 February, the company's advocates wrote stating the summons had been erroneously accepted as suit was not against the company, and enclosed a cheque for Sh. 4,351/10 in favour of plaintiffs. Plaintiff accepted this payment towards the claim. On 6 May, plaintiff applied to amend the plaint by substituting Highland Commercial Union Ltd for Highland Commercial Union. Only a small disputed balance of approximately Sh. 650 remained after the payment. Defendant objected on grounds that plaintiff had no remaining cause of action as claim had been paid in full.

Issues

  1. Whether the plaintiff's application to amend the defendant's name after service and partial payment was made in good faith.
  2. Whether the justice of the case required the amendment to the defendant's name.

Orders

  • Application to amend dismissed.
  • Costs awarded to the defendants.

Rules and key headnotes

Civil Procedure — Amendment of Pleadings — Amendment to Defendant's Name — Bad Faith
An application to amend a plaint to correct the defendant's name will be refused where the application is made in bad faith, particularly where the plaintiff seeks to backdate the amendment to avoid giving credit for a substantial payment already accepted from the defendant.
Civil Procedure — Amendment of Pleadings — Justice of the Case
Under Order 6 rule 19 of the Civil Procedure (Revised) Rules 1948, an amendment will only be allowed where the justice of the case requires it. Where a defendant would be gravely prejudiced by the amendment and there is no means of recouping the defendant with costs, and only a small disputed balance remains after substantial payment, the justice of the case does not require the amendment.

Legislation cited (1)

  • Civil Procedure (Revised) Rules 1948 Order 6 rule 19

Cases cited (2)

  • Phakey v World Wide Agencies Ltd (1948) 15 EACA 1
  • Steward v North Metropolitan Tramways Co (1886) 16 QBD 556

Full judgment

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The original judgment as reported. Read the original PDF before relying on any passage.

Abdulali Jiwanjee and Co. Ltd v Highland Commercial Union (Civil Suit No. 42 of 1952) [1952] EACA 3 (1 January 1952)
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.