Wakilii

Cottfield East Africa (U) Ltd v DHL Global Forwarding (U) Ltd & Anor (Civil Appeal No. 10 of 2016)

High Court · [2017] UGCOMMC 38 · 2017 Appeal Dismissed AI-generated summary ↓ Download Pin to watchlist Add to matter
Jurisdiction
Uganda
Case Type
Appeal from garnishee order absolute issued by Deputy Registrar in execution proceedings
Decision
Appeal dismissed; garnishee order absolute not set aside

Observed later treatment

No later-treatment classification is recorded for this judgment.

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Holding

Held that the appeal failed because allowing it would require setting aside an order of another judge of coordinate jurisdiction, which the court had no power to do. The garnishee proceedings had been overtaken by contempt of court proceedings in which another judge directed the bank to pay all monies in the appellant's accounts to the judgment creditor. The court noted that service of garnishee orders on the judgment debtor is discretionary under the rules. The appeal was dismissed with costs to the respondents.

Outcome

Appeal dismissed; garnishee order absolute not set aside

Facts

The appellant sought to set aside a garnishee order absolute issued by the Deputy Registrar on 1 October 2015, which attached Shs 36,029,747 and USD 15,600 from the appellant's bank accounts held with the second respondent. The appellant alleged it was never served with the garnishee proceedings and that the registrar acted without due regard to the law. After the garnishee order nisi was issued on 20 August 2015, the appellant withdrew funds from the garnisheed account and transferred them to a personal account. Subsequently, contempt of court proceedings were brought against the second respondent and its officers, resulting in an order by another High Court judge (Justice Muhanguzi) directing the bank to pay to the first respondent all monies in the appellant's accounts as of 19 May 2015. The bank complied with this order on 27 November 2015.

Issues

  1. Whether the appeal is properly before the court.
  2. Whether the garnishee order absolute should be set aside for failure to serve the appellant.
  3. Whether the court can set aside a garnishee order absolute that has been superseded by a subsequent order of another judge of coordinate jurisdiction.

Orders

  • Appeal dismissed.
  • Costs awarded to the respondents.

Rules and key headnotes

Civil Procedure — Execution — Garnishee proceedings — Service of garnishee orders on judgment debtor — Whether mandatory
Service of garnishee orders on the judgment debtor is discretionary, not mandatory, under Order 23 rule 1 of the Civil Procedure Rules, which uses the permissive term 'may' rather than 'shall', and garnishee proceedings are essentially between the judgment creditor and the garnishee bank.
Civil Procedure — Appeals — Jurisdiction — Appeals from Registrar's orders — Propriety of appeal route
An appeal against an order of the Registrar lies to a Judge of the High Court under Order 50 rule 8 of the Civil Procedure Rules, and this provision does not exclude orders made in execution proceedings; citing a wrong provision of law is not by itself sufficient to nullify proceedings as the right law can always be cited.
Civil Procedure — Jurisdiction — Coordinate jurisdiction — Power to set aside orders of another judge of same jurisdiction
A judge of the High Court has no power to set aside or vary an order made by another judge of the same court exercising coordinate jurisdiction; to do so would improperly interfere with the exercise of judicial discretion by a judge of equal standing.

Legislation cited (8)

Cases cited (10)

  • Pribhai Lalji and Sons Ltd v Hashanah [1962] EA 306
  • Deyalji Jerani Galfar v Kampala District Land Board and Sebaana Kizito [2005] KALR 600
  • Uganda Pentecostal University Ltd v NCHE and Attorney General [2005] KALR 585
  • Wangson Industries Ltd v Sterling Ltd [2007] KALR 464
  • Muluka International Ltd v Cardinal Nsubuga [1982] HCB 12
  • Dawson vs. Preston [1958] 3 AU SRP 314 at P/316
  • Banco Arabic Espanol v Bank of Uganda [1999] KALR 354
  • Unique Holdings Ltd v Business Skills Trust Ltd (Miscellaneous Application No. 402 of 2012)
  • Francis Micah v Nuwa Walakira (Supreme Court Civil Appeal No. 24 of 1994)
  • Kiiza Walusimbi Blasio and 2 Others v Senyimba Charles and 3 Others (Civil Suit No. 248 of 2011)

Full judgment

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

Cottfield East Africa (U) Ltd v DHL Global Forwarding (U) Ltd & Anor (Civil Appeal No. 10 of 2016) [2017] UGCommC 38 (3 May 2017)
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.