Milly Masembe v Sugar corporation(u) Ltd & another (Civil Application 22 of 1999)

Observed later treatment

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.

Holding

On an application under rules 41(1), 42(1) and 108 of the Rules of the Supreme Court, the Court held that an applicant seeking leave to appeal without paying fees or depositing security for costs must establish both that she lacks the means to do so and that the intended appeal is not without reasonable possibility of success. The applicant, an unemployed widow injured in a road accident and assisted by the Legal Aid Project, satisfied both requirements; that she had at times been represented by other firms was immaterial. The Registrar raised no objection. The Court granted the application and directed that the appeal be lodged without prior payment of fees or security for costs.

Outcome

Application granted; applicant permitted to lodge her intended appeal without prior payment of fees or deposit of security for costs

Facts

The applicant, an unemployed widow resident in Bukoto, was injured on 28 December 1993 in a road accident on Jinja Road near Namagunga, when the vehicle in which she was travelling collided with a tractor belonging to the first respondent and driven by the second respondent. She was hospitalised for over two months and lost income from her business. With the assistance of the Legal Aid Project of the Law Society, she filed High Court Civil Suit No. 646 of 1995 against both respondents and obtained judgment in her favour, with general and special damages. That judgment was reversed on the respondents' appeal to the Court of Appeal. The applicant, claiming she had no means to prosecute a further appeal and that the intended appeal had a reasonable possibility of success, applied for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court without paying fees or depositing security for costs. The respondents disputed her means and the merits of the intended appeal.

Issues

1. Whether the applicant established that she lacks the means to pay the required fees and to deposit security for costs.
2. Whether the applicant's intended appeal has a reasonable possibility of success such that leave to appeal without payment of fees or security for costs should be granted.

Orders

• The applicant may lodge her intended appeal without prior payment of fees of the court and without depositing security for costs in court.
• The record of appeal be prepared by the Registrar of the Court of Appeal without payment.
• The costs of this application abide the result of the intended appeal.
• A copy of this order be served on the Registrar of the Court of Appeal.
• The intended appeal be filed within 60 days from the service of this order on the Registrar of the Court of Appeal.

Rules and key headnotes

Legislation cited (3)

• Rules of the Supreme Court r.41(1)
• Rules of the Supreme Court r.42(1)
• Rules of the Supreme Court r.108(1)

Cases cited (1)

• The Case of East Africa Civil Appeal No.5 of 1977, Ouma Vs. PSC. Kenya

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.

• Mulindwa George v Kisubika [2015] UGSC 8 applied

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