Wakilii

Interfreight Forwarders(U) Limited v EastAfrican Development Bank (Civil Appeal 33 of 1992)

Supreme Court · [1993] UGSC 16 · 1993 Appeal Allowed AI-generated summary ↓ Download Pin to watchlist Add to matter
Jurisdiction
Uganda
Case Type
Civil appeal from a High Court judgment awarding the respondent the value of a motor vehicle damaged in transit.
Decision
Appeal allowed; High Court judgment set aside and the respondent's plaint dismissed, with costs to the appellant.

Observed later treatment

Treatment recorded in citing cases followed in 2 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.

Good law Followed in 2 cases and applied in 0 cases, with no adverse treatment recorded. Citations rising — 7 citing cases on record, 6 in the most recent three data years. 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 Supreme Court allowed the appeal. The respondent sued the carrier for a new Volvo destroyed in transit, pleading negligence. Held: (1) the trial judge erred in basing liability on common-carrier strict liability, a cause of action neither pleaded nor among the framed issues, since a party cannot succeed on an unpleaded case; and (2) on the unrebutted evidence the accident was an inevitable accident caused by an oncoming bus, not the driver's negligence. The High Court judgment was set aside and the plaint dismissed with costs to the appellant. The Court observed, on the unsuccessful grounds, that damages may be awarded in the foreign currency that most truly expresses the plaintiff's loss.

Outcome

Appeal allowed; High Court judgment set aside and the respondent's plaint dismissed, with costs to the appellant.

Facts

The respondent bank engaged the appellant freight forwarder, for reward, to clear a brand-new Volvo car (purchased for about £9,465) from Mombasa and deliver it to Kampala. While the car was being transported on a vehicle carrier, the carrier's driver, on a hill, saw a bus approaching at high speed on a rough road. To avoid a head-on collision he swerved off the road and braked suddenly; the impact threw three of the cars on the carrier, including the Volvo, off the carrier, damaging the Volvo beyond repair. The bank sued for breach of contract and negligence. The only eyewitness was the appellant's driver, whose account was unrebutted. The High Court found the driver negligent and, alternatively, held the appellant strictly liable as a common carrier, awarding £10,275 (the increased replacement cost) with interest at 36% and costs.

Issues

  1. Whether the trial judge erred in law by basing his judgment on common-carrier strict liability, a cause of action neither pleaded nor included in the agreed issues.
  2. Whether the evidence supported a finding that the accident was caused by the driver's negligence rather than being an inevitable accident.
  3. Whether the trial court applied correct principles in assessing damages and in awarding them in a foreign currency.
  4. Whether the award of interest at 36% was excessive, arbitrary or unjustified.
  5. Whether the decree, alleged to conflict with the judgment and to have been irregularly prepared, was a proper ground of appeal to the Supreme Court.

Orders

  • Appeal allowed on grounds one and two.
  • Judgment of the High Court set aside.
  • Plaint of the respondent dismissed.
  • Appellant awarded the costs of the suit and of the appeal.

Rules and key headnotes

Civil Procedure — Pleadings — Party bound to case pleaded
A party is bound by his pleadings and cannot be allowed to succeed on a case not set up by him, nor to change his case or set up a case inconsistent with his pleadings at trial except by way of amendment.
Civil Procedure — Issues — Judgment on an unpleaded cause of action
It is a misdirection in law for a court to base its judgment on a cause of action that was neither pleaded nor included among the agreed issues upon which the parties fought the suit.
Tort — Negligence — Appellate review of findings of fact
An appellate court may review the evidence to determine whether the trial judge's conclusions should stand, but must exercise that jurisdiction with caution, interfering only where there is no evidence to support a conclusion, where the trial judge failed to appreciate the weight or bearing of circumstances admitted or proved, or where he has plainly gone wrong.
Tort — Negligence — Defence of inevitable accident
Inevitable accident is a defence to negligence; the defendant bears the burden of proving either the cause of the accident and that its result was inevitable, or all the possible causes and that as to each the result could not have been avoided by the exercise of care and skill, and the defence cannot be relied upon where the risk was reasonably foreseeable.
Contract — Carriage of goods — Common carrier — Strict liability
A common carrier warrants the safe delivery of goods entrusted to it and is liable for their loss or injury whether or not occasioned by its default, subject only to the excepted risks (act of God, the King's enemies, and inherent defect in the goods carried).
Damages — Currency of award — Foreign currency
Where a contract does not specify the currency of payment, damages may be awarded in the currency that most truly expresses the plaintiff's loss, being the currency that would as nearly as possible compensate the plaintiff on the principle of restitutio in integrum and which the parties may be taken to have had in contemplation.
Damages — Measure — Destruction of goods
The normal measure of damages for the destruction of goods is the market value of the goods at the time and place of destruction, together with consequential expenses made necessary by the tort or breach of contract.

Legislation cited (8)

Cases cited (7)

  • v The Acacia Co. Ltd (1959) E.A. 248
  • v Sunderly Post Ltd (1958) E.A. 428
  • Miliangos (supra)
  • The Despina R (supra)
  • Liesbosch Dredger vs S.S. Edison
  • Moore v D.E.R. Ltd (1971) 1 WLR 1476
  • Singaram v Galstrun (1930) A.I.R. P.C. 205

Cases citing this judgment (7)

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.

Interfreight Forwarders(U) Limited v EastAfrican Development Bank (Civil Appeal 33 of 1992) [1993] UGSC 16 (2 July 1993)
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.