Byabagambi & 4 Others v Byabagambi (Civil Suit No. 11 of 2016)

Observed later treatment

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

The High Court declared that properties in Kasambya, Para Zone, and Mutundwe belonged to the estates of the late Charles Byabagambi and Evelyn Akugizibwe, and that the plaintiffs were entitled to them as beneficiaries. The defendant had no right to sell estate property without letters of administration, and such sale constituted unlawful intermeddling under Succession Act s.191 and Administrator General's Act s.11(1). The defendant was ordered to render accounts, pay proceeds into court, and cease intermeddling. Each plaintiff was awarded nominal general damages of UGX 5,000,000.

Outcome

Judgment entered in favour of the plaintiffs declaring them entitled as beneficiaries to their parents' estates; defendant ordered to account and cease intermeddling; each plaintiff awarded UGX 5,000,000 general damages

Facts

The first and second plaintiffs are children of the late Charles Byabagambi, who died in 2000 leaving property in Kasambya (Hoima) and Para Zone (Wakiso). The third, fourth, and fifth plaintiffs are children of the late Evelyn Akugizibwe, who died in 2012 leaving two properties in Mutundwe, Kampala. Charles Byabagambi entrusted his Kasambya land to his brother Kubalikenda for safekeeping. In 2013, the defendant evicted Kubalikenda, claimed the land as her own, placed her son on it, and allegedly sold it to him. The defendant also took possession of Charles Byabagambi's Para Zone property and Evelyn Akugizibwe's Mutundwe properties, collecting rental income without accounting to the beneficiaries. The defendant claimed joint tenancy over the Kasambya land and that Evelyn Akugizibwe entrusted the Mutundwe properties to her under a will until the youngest child reached 25 years. No letters of administration or probate had been obtained for either estate.

Issues

1. Whether the suit property belongs to the estate of the late Charles Byabagambi and Evelyn Akugizibwe Abwooli?
2. Whether the defendant illegally sold the land measuring approximately 10 acres at Kasambya to her son Benson Komurubuga?
3. Whether the defendant intermeddled with the estate of the late Charles Byabagambi and late Evelyn Akugizibwe Abwooli?
4. Whether the defendant is liable to render a true account to the estate of the late Charles Byabagambi and Evelyn Akugizibwe and pay proceeds thereto, if any?
5. What remedies are available to the parties?

Orders

• The land at Kasambya LCI, Bugahya Sub County, Hoima and the land at Para Zone Cell, Namasuba Makindye, Wakiso belongs to the estate of the late Charles Byabagambi and therefore the 1st and 2nd plaintiffs are entitled to them as beneficiaries of their late father's estate.
• The defendant had no right to sell the late Byabagambi's land at Kasambya to Benson Komurubuga. Benson Komurubuga, who obtained title to the land through the defendant does not have good title to the land and should therefore vacate the land.
• The two plots of land with their developments at Nyanama, Mutundwe Zone, Rubaga district belong to the estate of the late Evelyn Akugizibwe and therefore the 3rd to 5th plaintiffs are entitled to them as beneficiaries.
• The defendant shall render a true account of her dealings in the estate of the late Charles Byabagambi and Evelyn to the beneficiaries through the Registrar of the court within thirty days from the date of this judgment.
• The defendant shall pay the proceeds from the two estates in court within sixty days from the date of this judgement and the same shall be held in trust for the beneficiaries until administrators to the estates are appointed under the Succession Act.
• A permanent injunction is issued against the defendant stopping her from intermeddling with the estate of late Charles Byabagambi and Evelyn Akugizibwe.
• The plaintiffs are awarded each a sum of five million shillings as general damages with interest of 12% per annum from the date of judgment till payment in full.
• The defendant will pay the costs of the suit.

Rules and key headnotes

Legislation cited (4)

• Succession Act s.191
• Administrator General's Act s.11(1)
• Civil Procedure Rules Order 13 rule 6
• Civil Procedure Act s.27

Cases cited (4)

• Namirimu Ndaula v Reverend Mulondo & 2 Others (High Court Civil Suit No. 27 of 2011)
• Kabandize Baptist & 21 Others v KCCA (Civil Appeal No. 36 of 2016)
• Livingstone vs. Rowyards Coal (1880) 5 App Cas
• Robert Coussens vs. Attorney General (supra)

Cases citing this judgment (2)

How later Ugandan judgments in the Wakilii corpus have cited this case. Treatment labels come from Sequitur — Uganda’s citator — each backed by a verbatim span from the citing judgment, and are not an assertion that this case is, or is not, good law.

• Kwesiga & 2 Others v Nabukalu & 2 Others (Civil Appeal 26 of 2024)
• The Registered Trustees of Church of Uganda,Kumi District v Apio (Miscellaneous Application 72 of 2023)

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