Nandaula v Wameli & Co. Advocates (Execution Miscellaneous Application 45 of 2020)

Observed later treatment

No later-treatment classification is recorded for this judgment.

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

Held that under Section 272 of the Succession Act, as interpreted in Byaruhanga v Ruvugwaho, all administrators of an estate must act jointly at all times and cannot act singly. A co-administrator cannot institute proceedings on behalf of an estate without the consent of other surviving administrators. Application dismissed as incompetent for lack of locus standi.

Outcome

Application struck out as incompetent on preliminary objection

Facts

The applicant, Princess Nandaula Gladys Kyakuse, was one of several administrators of the estate of the late Sir Daudi Chwa II. She brought an application seeking to annul execution of a decree and set aside the sale of estate property comprised in Kyaggwe Block 113, Plots 1097–1102, which had been sold by court bailiff to the 2nd to 6th respondents in execution proceedings arising from Family Court Originating Summons No. 09 of 2014. The applicant alleged irregularities including sale below reserve price, private treaty sales contrary to court orders, and fraud involving the 1st respondent (Wameli & Co. Advocates) who were judgment creditors and also shareholders in the 2nd respondent company which purchased the land. At the time of filing, two original administrators were alive: the applicant and Prince David Namugala Mawanda. The 2nd respondent raised a preliminary objection that the applicant lacked locus standi to bring the application alone without the consent of the co-administrator.

Issues

1. Whether the applicant, as a co-administrator, had locus standi to bring an application on behalf of the estate without the consent of the other surviving administrator.

Orders

• Application dismissed as incompetent.
• Applicant lacked locus standi to institute the application without the consent of the other surviving co-administrator.

Rules and key headnotes

Legislation cited (5)

• Civil Procedure Act s.34(1)
• Civil Procedure Rules Order 52 Rules 1 & 2
• Succession Act s.272
• Succession Act s.273
• Registration of Titles Act s.134

Cases cited (2)

• Byaruhanga v Ruvugwaho (Supreme Court Civil Appeal No. 09 of 2014)
• Kigala v Kaddu (Miscellaneous Application No. 634 of 2021)

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