Administrator General, Late Benedicto Semambo v Alpha International Investments Ltd (Civil Suit No 87 of 2004) (Civil Suit No 87 of 2004)

Observed later treatment

No later-treatment classification is recorded for this judgment.

Citator coverage is limited to judgments in the Wakilii corpus and source-matched treatment records. Absence of a signal is not an assertion that the case remains good law.

Holding

Held that the pleadings raised several triable issues. The court granted a temporary injunction restraining the respondent, its officers, agents and purported successors in title from selling, occupying or otherwise dealing with the disputed property until final disposal of the main suit. The Registrar of Titles was restrained from removing the caveat lodged on 23 August 2000 and from registering any instrument affecting the land until final disposal of the suit.

Outcome

Temporary injunction granted restraining dealings with the suit property pending final disposal of the main suit

Facts

The deceased Benedicto Semambo was the registered proprietor of land comprised in Kyadondo Block 219 Plot 235 at Najera. In June 1998, the deceased borrowed money from the respondent and secured the loan by depositing his certificate of title and signing blank transfer forms. In August 2000, the deceased discovered that the respondent had secretly transferred the suit property into its names on 21 December 1998. Upon the death of her husband, Mary Semambo obtained Letters of Administration to his estate. On 23 August 2000, she registered a caveat on the suit land forbidding registration of any dealing. She instituted HCCS No. 1546 of 2000 seeking to vitiate the respondent's dealing on the ground that the transaction involved the matrimonial home and was illegal for lack of her consent. That suit was withdrawn by consent on 19 January 2004. On 26 March 2004, the respondent requested the Commissioner for Land Registration to issue notice to remove the caveat. The applicant then instituted the main suit and applied for a temporary injunction to preserve the caveat.

Issues

1. Whether the applicant has shown sufficient cause to be granted a temporary injunction restraining the respondent from dealing with the suit property pending final determination of the main suit.
2. Whether the Registrar of Titles should be restrained from removing the caveat lodged on the suit land pending final determination of the main suit.

Orders

• Neither the Respondent nor their officers, or agents nor their purported successors in title shall sell, occupy or in any other way deal with the property in dispute till final disposal of the main suit.
• The Registrar of Titles shall not remove the caveat lodged on 23/08/2000 on the suit land.
• The Registrar of Titles is hereby restrained from registering any instrument affecting the land in dispute till final disposal of the suit.
• The costs of this application shall abide the event in the main suit.

Rules and key headnotes

Legislation cited (2)

• Civil Procedure Rules Order 37 rr 1(a)
• Civil Procedure Rules Order 37 rr 9

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