Wakilii

John Kibyami v Mission & Relief Transport Ltd (HCT-00-CC-CS 236 of 2006)

High Court · [2006] UGCOMMC 49 · 2006 Application Granted AI-generated summary ↓ Download Pin to watchlist Add to matter
Jurisdiction
Uganda
Case Type
Application to amend plaint by deleting the word 'limited' from defendant's name in a first instance commercial suit
Decision
Amendment allowed; matter to proceed to hearing on the merits

Observed later treatment

No later-treatment classification is recorded for this judgment.

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Holding

Held that the inclusion of the word 'Ltd' in the defendant's name was a mere misnomer constituting a drafting error. Where a reasonable person reading all documents would entertain no doubt as to the correct party to be sued, the error may be corrected by amendment without element of surprise. Application to amend the plaint allowed.

Outcome

Amendment allowed; matter to proceed to hearing on the merits

Facts

The plaintiff filed a commercial suit against 'Mission and Relief Transport Ltd', described as a limited liability company incorporated in Uganda. At the scheduling conference, defendant's counsel informed the court that two companies existed with similar names: Mission and Relief Transport Ltd (a Ugandan company) and Mission and Relief Transport (a Netherlands company registered in Uganda as a foreign company under Companies Act s.370). The hire agreement attached to the plaint showed the contract was with 'Mission & Relief Transport' (without 'Ltd'), signed for 'Mission & Relief Transport Uganda' with a stamp reading 'Mission and Relief Transport, Great Lakes Region Office'. Plaintiff's counsel applied to amend the plaint by deleting the word 'limited' from the defendant's name. Defendant's counsel objected, arguing this constituted substitution of parties and moved to strike out the suit under Civil Procedure Rules O.6 r.29.

Issues

  1. Whether the plaintiff should be permitted to amend the plaint by deleting the word 'limited' from the defendant's name.

Orders

  • Application to amend the plaint allowed.
  • The word 'Limited' to be struck out from the defendant's name.
  • Costs of the application to be in the cause of the suit.

Rules and key headnotes

Civil Procedure — Amendment of Pleadings — Misnomer — Correction of Party Name
Where a reasonable person reading all documents in the proceedings and having regard to all circumstances would entertain no doubt as to the person to be sued, an error in naming the party is a mere misnomer that may be corrected by amendment.
Civil Procedure — Amendment of Pleadings — Drafting Errors — Late Stage Amendment
An amendment may be allowed at a late stage where it is necessitated solely by a drafting error and where there is no element of surprise to the opposing party.

Legislation cited (3)

Cases cited (2)

  • JB Kohli & Others v Bachulal Popatlal (1964) EA 219
  • Edward Seninde v Fred Luwaga (1995) IV KALR 149

Full judgment

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

John Kibyami v Mission & Relief Transport Ltd (HCT-00-CC-CS 236 of 2006) [2006] UGCommC 49 (5 December 2006)
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.