Wakilii

Kapeeka Coffee Works Limited and Another v Non -Performing Assets Recovery Trust (Civil Appeal 53 of 2000)

Court of Appeal · [2001] UGCA 21 · 2001 Appeal Allowed AI-generated summary ↓ Download Pin to watchlist Add to matter
Jurisdiction
Uganda
Case Type
Civil appeal from a decision of the NPART Tribunal overruling a preliminary objection on disclosure of a cause of action
Decision
Appeal allowed; respondent's plaint struck out for non-disclosure of a cause of action

Observed later treatment

Cited — treatment unverified cited in 2 (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 2 times with no adverse treatment recorded; not yet tested on the merits. Citations rising — 3 citing cases on record, 3 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 Court of Appeal held that the transfer of non-performing assets from Uganda Commercial Bank to NPART is statutory rather than contractual, governed by the NPART Statute and Regulations. Although a plaint need not contain every fact constituting a cause of action, it must show a violation of the plaintiff's right. The respondent's amended plaint failed to plead compliance with the mandatory requirement of regulation 4(b) of S.I. No. 76 of 1995 that notice of the assignment in the prescribed form be forwarded to the owner (debtor). This omission was fatal, rendering the plaint defective for disclosing no cause of action. The appeal was allowed and the plaint struck out.

Outcome

Appeal allowed; respondent's plaint struck out for non-disclosure of a cause of action

Facts

The respondent, the Non-Performing Assets Recovery Trust (NPART), sued the appellants and another for recovery of Shs. 839,030,582 being a non-performing asset assigned to it by Uganda Commercial Bank under the NPART Statute No. 11 of 1994. The claim was based on a Deed of Assignment dated 7 December 1995. The appellants had earlier applied for and obtained funding from UCB for the rehabilitation of their coffee hullery, secured by mortgage, and later defaulted and ceased operations. NPART claimed the appellants failed to repay the assigned debt. When the matter came before the NPART Tribunal, the appellants raised a preliminary objection that the amended plaint disclosed no cause of action. The Tribunal overruled the objection, prompting this appeal. The amended plaint pleaded notice of intention to sue but did not plead that notice of the statutory assignment, in the prescribed form, had been forwarded by the bank to the owner as required by regulation 4(b) of S.I. No. 76 of 1995.

Issues

  1. Whether the respondent's amended plaint disclosed a cause of action against the appellants.
  2. Whether failure to plead that notice of the statutory assignment had been forwarded to the debtor under regulation 4(b) of S.I. No. 76 of 1995 rendered the plaint defective.

Orders

  • Appeal allowed.
  • Respondent's plaint struck out for disclosing no cause of action.
  • Costs of the action in the Court of Appeal and in the Tribunal below awarded to the appellant.

Rules and key headnotes

Pleadings — Cause of Action — Test for Disclosure
To determine whether a plaint discloses a cause of action, the court looks only at the plaint and its annexures; where the plaint shows a violation of the plaintiff's right by the defendant, it discloses a cause of action.
NPART — Transfer of Non-Performing Assets — Statutory Nature
The transfer of non-performing assets from a bank to the Non-Performing Assets Recovery Trust is statutory and not contractual, operating by force of law under the NPART Statute No. 11 of 1994 and the Regulations made under it; a Deed of Assignment is merely a procedural signification of the transfer.
Mandatory Statutory Requirements — Notice of Assignment under Regulation 4(b)
Regulation 4(b) of S.I. No. 76 of 1995 mandatorily requires that notice of the assignment in favour of the Trust, in the prescribed form, be forwarded by the bank to the owner (debtor); a notice of intention to sue does not satisfy this requirement.
Pleadings — Material Facts — Assignment as Essence of Cause of Action
Where assignment is a material fact of the essence of the cause of action, notice of the assignment must be given in writing to the debtor and be pleaded; failure to comply with this mandatory requirement renders the plaint defective and deprives the assignee of title to sue.

Legislation cited (4)

  • Non-Performing Assets Recovery Trust Statute No. 11 of 1994 s.11
  • Non-Performing Assets Recovery Trust Statute No. 11 of 1994 s.13(2)
  • Non-Performing Assets Recovery Trust Regulations 1995 (S.I. No. 76 of 1995) reg.3
  • Non-Performing Assets Recovery Trust Regulations 1995 (S.I. No. 76 of 1995) reg.4

Cases cited (2)

  • Auto Garage v Motokov (1971) EA 514
  • Cresta Holdings Ltd v Karlin (1959) 1 WLR 1055

Cases citing this judgment (2)

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

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

Kapeeka Coffee Works Limited and Another v Non -Performing Assets Recovery Trust (Civil Appeal 53 of 2000) [2001] UGCA 21 (2 March 2001)
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.