Wakilii

Charles Bwenvu v ABT Associates (Civil Suit No. 0126 of 2011)

High Court · [2019] UGHCCD 306 · 2019 Suit Dismissed AI-generated summary ↓ Download Pin to watchlist Add to matter
Jurisdiction
Uganda
Case Type
First instance civil suit for libel arising from post-termination public notice
Decision
Libel suit dismissed; defendant not liable

Observed later treatment

No later-treatment classification is recorded for this judgment.

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Holding

The High Court dismissed a libel claim arising from a post-termination public notice. The court held that it is not defamatory for an employer to publish that a former employee is no longer authorised to conduct business on its behalf, where the employee previously dealt with the public and the notice was intended to protect the company's interests rather than to injure reputation.

Outcome

Libel suit dismissed; defendant not liable

Facts

The plaintiff was employed by the defendant as Administration Manager/Procurement Officer from December 2009 to April 2011. His employment was terminated on 8 April 2011. On 19 May 2011, the defendant published a notice in the Daily Monitor Newspaper bearing the plaintiff's photograph and stating that he was no longer an employee and no longer authorised to conduct business on behalf of the company, warning that anyone who dealt with him did so at their own risk. The plaintiff sued for libel, alleging the notice portrayed him as untrustworthy and corrupt. The defendant argued the notice was a reasonable attempt to protect its interests given the plaintiff's procurement role involved direct public interaction. The plaintiff had handed over all company property and there was no evidence of him holding himself out on behalf of the company after termination.

Issues

  1. Whether the notice published by the defendant in the Daily Monitor Newspaper on 19 May 2011 was defamatory of the plaintiff.
  2. What remedies are available to the parties.

Orders

  • Suit dismissed.
  • Each party to bear its own costs.

Rules and key headnotes

Defamation — Libel — Post-Employment Public Notices
It is not defamatory for an employer to publish that a former employee is no longer employed and no longer authorised to conduct business on the employer's behalf, where such notice is intended to protect the employer's interests and the employee previously dealt with members of the public in their official capacity.
Defamation — Elements — Defamatory Meaning
A defamatory publication is one that tends to lower a person's reputation in the opinion of right-thinking members of the community or to make them shun or avoid that person.
Defamation — Defence of Justification — Burden of Proof
Where the defence of justification is pleaded in defamation proceedings, the burden rests on the defendant to prove that the statements contained in the publication were true.

Cases cited (2)

  • John Patrick Machira v Wangethi Mwangi and anor KLR 532
  • Murozi Joel Benard v Stanbic Bank (High Court Civil Suit No. 100 of 2001)

Full judgment

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

Charles Bwenvu v ABT Associates (Civil Suit No. 0126 of 2011) [2019] UGHCCD 306 (21 June 2019)
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.