Fatemabai fazzlehussein Patwa v Beoart Limited and Anor (HC Miscellaneous Application No. 1192 of 2020)

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

The High Court struck out a plaint filed by a company that had been determined by the Uganda Registration Services Bureau to be non-existent. The court held that until the Registrar General's decision was overturned by a competent tribunal, the company lacked legal personality and capacity to sue under Order 1 rule 1 of the Civil Procedure Rules, and therefore the plaint disclosed no reasonable cause of action.

Outcome

Plaint struck out; application granted with costs to the applicant

Facts

On 11 March 2020, Beoart Limited and Byensi Jameson filed Civil Suit No. 225 of 2020 alleging that the applicant trespassed on land comprised in FRV 1532, Folio 1, Plot 26, William Street, Kampala. The applicant applied to strike out the plaint on grounds that it disclosed no reasonable cause of action and was filed without authority. The Uganda Registration Services Bureau had determined on 5 February 2015 that Beoart Limited registered on 14 February 2007 could not exist because the serial number belonged to another company and there was no physical register entry. The Registrar General found that a different Beoart Ltd registered in 2005 with different directors was the authentic company. This decision was being challenged in Civil Suit 869 of 2015 but had not been overturned.

Issues

1. Whether the plaint in Civil Suit 225 of 2020 ought to be struck out for failure to disclose a cause of action under Order 6 Rule 30 of the CPR?

Orders

• The Respondent's Plaint in Civil Suit No. 225 of 2020 is struck out for being filed by a non-existent entity and therefore discloses no cause of action under Order 6 rule 30 of the Civil Procedure Rules.
• Costs of the Application to be met by the 2nd Respondent.

Rules and key headnotes

Legislation cited (7)

• Civil Procedure Act s.98
• Civil Procedure Rules Order 6 rule 30(1)
• Civil Procedure Rules Order 6 rule 31
• Civil Procedure Rules Order 52 rule 1
• Civil Procedure Rules Order 52 rule 2
• Civil Procedure Rules Order 1 rule 1
• Uganda Registration Services Bureau Act Cap 210 s.4

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