Wakilii

Mugoya v ABC Capital Bank Ltd (Miscellaneous Application No. 505 of 2015)

High Court · [2017] UGCOMMC 42 · 2017 Application Granted — Default Judgment Set Aside AI-generated summary ↓ Download Pin to watchlist Add to matter
Jurisdiction
Uganda
Case Type
Application for unconditional leave to appear and defend a summary suit, arising from Civil Suit No. 362 of 2015, after default judgment had been entered and an earlier application for extension of time had been dismissed for want of appearance
Decision
Default judgment set aside; applicant granted leave to file defence in the summary suit within 14 days

Observed later treatment

No later-treatment classification is recorded for this judgment.

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Holding

The court set aside the default judgment entered against the applicant in 2015 on the ground that the summary proceedings had been excessively delayed (nearly two years), frustrating the purpose of Order 36 which requires expeditious determination. The court held that justice delayed is justice denied where summary procedure is not completed within a very short period. The applicant was granted unconditional leave to file a defence, as the existence of a prior pending suit (Civil Suit No. 88 of 2014) between the same parties on the same subject matter raised a plausible defence under sections 6 and 7 of the Civil Procedure Act.

Outcome

Default judgment set aside; applicant granted leave to file defence in the summary suit within 14 days

Facts

The respondent bank filed Civil Suit No. 362 of 2015 as a summary suit. On 1 July 2015, the applicant filed Miscellaneous Application No. 505 of 2015 for unconditional leave to appear and defend. However, this application was filed two days out of time. On 2 July 2015, default judgment was entered against the applicant under Order 36 rule 3(2) for failure to apply for leave within the prescribed period. The applicant then filed Miscellaneous Application No. 516 of 2015 on 3 July 2015 seeking extension of time to file the leave application and to set aside the default judgment. This application was dismissed on 20 April 2016 for want of appearance. In April 2016, the applicant filed another application to set aside that dismissal, which was eventually granted by consent in March 2017. The applicant's defence was that a prior suit (Civil Suit No. 88 of 2014) was pending between the same parties on the same subject matter, filed on 19 March 2014. By the time the reinstated application came for determination in May 2017, nearly two years had elapsed since the original applications were filed.

Issues

  1. Whether the default judgment entered against the applicant should be set aside.
  2. Whether the applicant should be granted unconditional leave to file a defence after the summary suit proceedings had been substantially delayed.
  3. Whether the existence of a prior pending suit between the same parties on the same subject matter constitutes a plausible defence to the summary suit.

Orders

  • Default judgment issued by the registrar on 29 June 2015 is set aside.
  • Applicant granted unconditional leave to file a written statement of defence.
  • Defence to be filed within 14 days from the date of this order.
  • Costs of all the applications awarded to the Respondent.

Rules and key headnotes

Civil Procedure — Summary Suits — Purpose and Requirement of Expedition — Order 36 CPR
The purpose of summary suit procedure under Order 36 of the Civil Procedure Rules is to enable a plaintiff to obtain a quick judgment where there is plainly no defence to the claim. Summary proceedings must be disposed of expeditiously — within a few weeks or months. Where summary proceedings have taken more than one year without resolution, the matter ceases to fulfil the purpose of Order 36 and cannot properly be called a summary procedure.
Civil Procedure — Summary Suits — Default Judgment — Setting Aside — Delay as Good Cause
Where summary proceedings have been excessively delayed for an unacceptable period (in this case nearly two years), such delay frustrates the purpose of Order 36 and constitutes good cause for setting aside a default judgment under Order 36 rule 11. Justice delayed is justice denied applies with particular force to summary procedure, which is designed to produce quick judgments.
Civil Procedure — Res Judicata and Lis Pendens — Prior Pending Suit as Defence to Summary Suit
The existence of a prior pending suit between the same parties on the same subject matter raises a plausible defence to a summary suit sufficient to warrant granting leave to defend. Section 6 of the Civil Procedure Act bars the court from hearing any suit between the same parties if there is a prior filed suit between the same parties on the same subject matter which is still pending. If decided, the suit would be res judicata under section 7 of the Civil Procedure Act.

Legislation cited (8)

Cases cited (1)

  • Home and Overseas Insurance Co Ltd v Mentor Insurance Co (UK) Ltd (In Liquidation) [1989] 3 All ER 74

Full judgment

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Mugoya v ABC Capital Bank Ltd (Miscellaneous Application No. 505 of 2015) [2017] UGCommC 42 (23 May 2017)
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.