Wakilii

Forest Paper Packaging Limited v Blue Wave Beverages Limited (Civil Suit No. 1133 of 2024)

High Court · [2025] UGCOMMC 277 · 2025 Judgment for Plaintiff AI-generated summary ↓ Download Pin to watchlist Add to matter
Jurisdiction
Uganda
Case Type
First instance civil suit for breach of contract with default judgment entered for liquidated sum and formal proof of damages
Decision
Judgment entered for the plaintiff with general damages, interest on both the principal sum and general damages, and costs

Observed later treatment

Cited — treatment unverified cited in 1 (treatment unverified) Sequitur — Uganda’s citator · Derived from citing cases in the Wakilii corpus — not an assertion that this case is good law.

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.

No adverse treatment recorded Cited 1 time with no adverse treatment recorded; not yet tested on the merits. Derived from citing cases in the Wakilii corpus — a deterministic signal, not legal advice.

AI-generated summary. This summary was generated by AI from the full text of the judgment. It may contain errors or omissions—always read the source judgment before relying on it.

Holding

The court awarded the plaintiff general damages of UGX 100,000,000 for breach of contract arising from the defendant's failure to pay for packaging boxes supplied since 2020. Interest at 18% per annum was awarded on the outstanding principal sum of UGX 1,232,923,096 from the date of filing suit until full payment, and 6% per annum on general damages from judgment. The court applied the principle that a defendant who has used the plaintiff's money must compensate for that use, and assessed general damages based on the value of the subject matter and the substantial business inconvenience suffered by the plaintiff over five years.

Outcome

Judgment entered for the plaintiff with general damages, interest on both the principal sum and general damages, and costs

Facts

The plaintiff supplied packaging boxes to the defendant under a contract. The defendant failed to pay the outstanding sum of UGX 1,232,923,096, which had been due since 2020. Despite repeated demands for payment over five years, the defendant refused to settle the debt. The defendant was served but did not file a defence. On 25 October 2024, the plaintiff applied for default judgment. On 4 June 2025, the court entered judgment in default for the liquidated sum and set the matter down for formal proof of damages. The plaintiff's Marketing Director testified that the non-payment hampered the plaintiff's ability to secure bank loans and affected business operations, particularly purchasing materials from China.

Issues

  1. Whether the Plaintiff is entitled to the remedies sought, including interest on the owed sum, general damages for breach of contract, and costs.

Orders

  • General damages of UGX 100,000,000 awarded to the Plaintiff.
  • Interest at a rate of 6% per annum on the general damages, calculated from the date of this Judgment until payment in full.
  • Interest at a rate of 18% per annum on the outstanding amount of UGX 1,232,923,096, calculated from the date of filing the suit until payment in full.
  • Costs of the suit awarded to the Plaintiff.

Rules and key headnotes

Contract Law — Breach of Contract — Compensation — Right to Interest
Where there is a breach of contract, the party who suffers the breach is entitled to receive compensation for any loss or damage caused, including interest, on the basis that the defendant has taken and used the plaintiff's money and benefited from it.
Damages & Quantum — Interest — Rate and Calculation Period
Where a defendant has benefited from the use of the plaintiff's funds for an extended period, the court may award interest at a rate it deems appropriate, calculated from the date of filing the suit until full payment, to compensate the plaintiff for the use of their money.
Damages & Quantum — General Damages — Assessment Principles
In assessing general damages for breach of contract, the court should be guided by the value of the subject matter, the economic inconvenience that the plaintiff may have been put through, and the nature and extent of the injury suffered, with the aim of putting the plaintiff in the position they would have been in had they not suffered the wrong.
Damages & Quantum — General Damages — Business Inconvenience
Where a defendant's failure to pay an outstanding contractual sum has caused significant inconvenience to the plaintiff's business operations over an extended period, including hampering the ability to secure bank loans and affecting purchasing capacity, the court may award substantial general damages to compensate for such inconvenience.

Legislation cited (1)

Cases cited (4)

  • Premchandra Shenoi & Another v Maximov Oleg Petrovich (Supreme Court Civil Appeal No. 9 of 2003)
  • Progressive Group of Schools Ltd & 2 Others v Barclays Bank of Uganda Ltd T/A Absa Bank (U) Ltd & Luyanzi Academic Foundation (Civil Appeal No. 349 of 2020)
  • Kibimba Rice Ltd v Umar Salim (Supreme Court Civil Appeal No. 17 of 1992)
  • Maruri Venkata Bhaskar Reddy v Bank of India (Uganda) Ltd (Civil Suit No. 804 of 2014)

Cases citing this judgment (1)

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.

Full judgment

↓ Download PDF

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

Forest Paper Packaging Limited v Blue Wave Beverages Limited (Civil Suit No. 1133 of 2024) [2025] UGCommC 277 (11 July 2025)
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.