Wakilii

M/S Kaliba Associated Advocates v Kisuule Frank and Others (Miscellaneous Application 46 of 2025)

High Court · [2026] UGHC 453 · 2026 Application Dismissed AI-generated summary ↓ Download Pin to watchlist Add to matter
Jurisdiction
Uganda
Case Type
Application for taxation of advocate-client bill of costs arising from administration cause
Decision
Application dismissed without prejudice to proper service and re-filing

Observed later treatment

No later-treatment classification is recorded for this judgment.

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Holding

The High Court dismissed an application by advocates seeking to tax their advocate-client bill of costs against former clients who were administrators of an estate. The court held that service of the application was defective because the affidavit of service lacked essential particulars and there was no proof that electronic service via WhatsApp was effective. Without proper service, the court could not exercise discretion to decide the matter against the respondents.

Outcome

Application dismissed without prejudice to proper service and re-filing

Facts

The applicant law firm was instructed by the first respondent to represent administrators of an estate in obtaining letters of administration and withdrawing a caveat through mediation. After successfully obtaining the grant, the applicant sent a demand letter for legal fees totaling UGX 126,522,600. When the respondents failed to pay, the applicant filed this application to tax their advocate-client bill of costs. The affidavit of service indicated that the process server did not find the first respondent at his business area, obtained his phone number from an unidentified person, called him to explain the application, and purportedly served the third and fourth respondents via WhatsApp. No respondent filed a reply to the application.

Issues

  1. Whether the Respondents were properly served with the application.
  2. Whether the court could proceed to determine the application in the absence of proof of effective service.

Orders

  • Application dismissed for failure to effect proper service against the Respondents.

Rules and key headnotes

Service of Process — Requirements for Valid Affidavit of Service
A valid affidavit of service must contain a statement that the deponent is a process server of the court, that the defendant or respondent was personally known to the deponent at the time of effecting service, or that another person accompanied the process server and pointed out the person to be served if the defendant was not known to the deponent.
Electronic Service — Requirements for Effective Service via WhatsApp
Service of court summons through electronic means such as WhatsApp shall be upheld by the court only where it is proved that service through ordinary means under Order 5 rules 8 to 15 of the Civil Procedure Rules is not possible. Service through WhatsApp is not effective if there is no proof of delivery, which may be in the form of actual acknowledgement of receipt by the addressee or an automated message confirming delivery such as double blue ticks on the sender's device.
Fair Hearing — Right to be Served with Court Process
The right to a fair hearing under Articles 28 and 44 of the Constitution of Uganda 1995 is non-derogable and includes the right to be heard before an independent and impartial court. This right requires that all parties be properly served with court process unless it is not justiciable to do so.
Defective Service — Effect on Court's Jurisdiction
Where service of court process is defective and there is no proof that the respondents received the application, the court has no discretion to decide the matter against the respondents and must dismiss the application for failure to effect proper service.

Legislation cited (3)

Cases cited (5)

Full judgment

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

M_S Kaliba Associated Advocates v Kisuule Frank and Others (Miscellaneous Application 46 of 2025) [2026] UGHC 453 (30 April 2026)
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.