Wakilii

Muwanga v Sterling Civil Engineering (U) Limited (Civil Appeal 20 of 1993)

Supreme Court · [1994] UGSC 48 · 1994 Appeal Dismissed AI-generated summary ↓ Download Pin to watchlist Add to matter
Jurisdiction
Uganda
Case Type
Appeal to the Supreme Court against the quantum of general damages awarded by the High Court in a personal-injury suit where liability was admitted.
Decision
Appeal against quantum of damages dismissed; the trial court's award of Shs. 800,000 general damages was upheld.

Observed later treatment

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Holding

An appellate court will not normally interfere with a trial court's assessment of damages unless the judge proceeded on a wrong principle or made a wholly erroneous estimate producing an award that is too high or too low. The appellant, injured in a motor accident, had largely healed, had no proven permanent disability, retained his employment (on lighter duties) with no proven loss of income, and showed no psychological injury. He failed to demonstrate any error in principle in the trial judge's award of Shs. 800,000 general damages. The Court therefore declined to disturb the award and dismissed the appeal on quantum with costs to the respondent.

Outcome

Appeal against quantum of damages dismissed; the trial court's award of Shs. 800,000 general damages was upheld.

Facts

On 8 August 1988 at Kawolo, Mukono District, the respondent's lorry, driven by its driver Senyonjo, collided with a car in which the appellant was travelling. Three occupants of the car died. The appellant, aged 36 and employed as a driver with Bugisu Coffee Factory, sustained a simple fracture of the right femur, a dislocation of the right leg, and multiple cut wounds to the cheek, right hand, neck, calf and forehead, with persistent pain in the right leg, shoulder and chest. Liability was admitted by the respondent following its admission in an earlier test suit arising from the same accident. The appellant sued for general and special damages. The trial judge awarded Shs. 800,000 general damages for pain and loss of amenities and Shs. 3,000 special damages, rejecting an unproved claim of Shs. 200,000 for medical expenses. The injuries had healed fairly well, with no assessed permanent disability; the appellant kept his job on lighter duties with no proven loss of income or psychological injury.

Issues

  1. Whether the trial judge erred in principle in assessing the appellant's general damages, so as to entitle the appellate court to interfere with the award.
  2. Whether the award of Shs. 800,000 general damages was inordinately low given the appellant's injuries, pain and suffering.

Orders

  • Appeal dismissed.
  • Costs of the appeal awarded to the respondent.

Rules and key headnotes

Damages & Quantum — Appellate Interference with Award of Damages
An appellate court will not interfere with a trial court's assessment of damages unless the trial judge proceeded on a wrong principle or so misapprehended the evidence as to make a wholly erroneous estimate, resulting in an award that is either too small or too large.
Damages & Quantum — General Damages for Personal Injury — Use of Comparable Awards
In assessing general damages in running-down personal-injury cases, the court ought to look to awards made in comparable decided cases as guidelines, and counsel are expected to cite such authorities to assist the court.
Damages & Quantum — General Damages — Effect of Healing, Disability and Loss of Income
Where a claimant's injuries have healed fairly well, no permanent disability is proved, employment is retained without proven loss of income, and no psychological injury is shown, a modest award of general damages discloses no error in principle warranting appellate interference.
Damages & Quantum — Doctrine of Precedent in Assessing Damages
The floating and subsequent demonetisation of the Uganda Shilling do not displace the doctrine of precedent; courts continue to be guided by previous High Court and Supreme Court decisions when assessing damages.

Cases cited (7)

  • Davies v Powell [1942] 1 All E.R. 657
  • Flint v Lovell [1935] 1 K.B. 354
  • Lukoo v Motoso [1952] 70 EACA 50
  • Notia v ... [1905] 22 EACA 10 (OCR-garbled)
  • Si...aab v Linoh [1955] EACA 127 at 129 (OCR-garbled)
  • Sulaiti Mutebi v Uganda Consolidated ... H.C.C.S. No. 777
  • Electricity injury case (Supreme Court) — appellant reduced to incapacity; trial award of Shs. 9 million doubled on appeal (case name not legible in source)

Full judgment

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

Muwanga v Sterling Civil Engineering (U) Limited (Civil Appeal 20 of 1993) [1994] UGSC 48 (4 March 1994)
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.