Wakilii

National Water and Sewerage Corporation v Chance Eugene (Civil Suit No. 38 of 2019)

High Court · [2023] UGHCCD 40 · 2023 Suit Withdrawn AI-generated summary ↓ Download Pin to watchlist Add to matter
Jurisdiction
Uganda
Case Type
Application by plaintiff to withdraw civil suit after defendant filed written statement of defense
Decision
Suit withdrawn; related miscellaneous applications dismissed as incompetent

Observed later treatment

Cited — treatment unverified cited in 1 (treatment unverified) Sequitur — Uganda’s citator · Derived from citing cases in the Wakilii corpus — not an assertion that this case is good law.

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.

No adverse treatment recorded Cited 1 time with no adverse treatment recorded; not yet tested on the merits. Derived from citing cases in the Wakilii corpus — a deterministic signal, not legal advice.

AI-generated summary. This summary was generated by AI from the full text of the judgment. It may contain errors or omissions—always read the source judgment before relying on it.

Holding

Where a defendant files a written statement of defense but fails to serve it on the plaintiff, does not attend court, and demonstrates no interest in defending the suit beyond filing the defense, the court may exercise discretion under Order 25 rule 2 of the Civil Procedure Rules to allow withdrawal without costs despite the general rule requiring costs where defense has been delivered.

Outcome

Suit withdrawn; related miscellaneous applications dismissed as incompetent

Facts

The plaintiff National Water and Sewerage Corporation filed suit on 30 October 2019 seeking a declaration of ownership of land comprised in FRV KB03, Folio 9, Block 60, Plot 293 at Kaburaisoke, Kamwenge District measuring 0.0315 hectares being an access to a reservoir, an order directing the defendant to open up the access road, a permanent injunction, and damages. The defendant filed a written statement of defense on 6 November 2019, endorsed by court on 14 January 2020. The defendant did not serve the defense on the plaintiff or attend subsequent court mentions. On 17 August 2022, the plaintiff sought to withdraw the suit without costs, incorrectly stating that no defense had been filed. The court fixed the matter for mention on 2 December 2022 but neither party appeared.

Issues

  1. Whether the plaintiff could withdraw the suit without leave of court after the defendant had filed a written statement of defense.
  2. Whether the withdrawal should be with or without costs to the defendant.

Orders

  • Civil Suit No. 038 of 2019 withdrawn with no orders as to costs.
  • Misc. Application No. 93 of 2019 dismissed for being incompetent with no orders as to costs.
  • Misc. Application No. 94 of 2019 dismissed for being incompetent with no orders as to costs.

Rules and key headnotes

Civil Procedure — Withdrawal of Suit — After Defense Filed — Discretion to Allow Without Costs
Under Order 25 rule 2 of the Civil Procedure Rules, where a defendant has filed a written statement of defense but has failed to serve it on the plaintiff, has not attended court, and has demonstrated no interest in defending the suit beyond filing the defense, the court may exercise its discretion to allow withdrawal of the suit without costs despite the general rule that costs should be paid to the defendant where defense has been delivered.
Civil Procedure — Withdrawal of Suit — Effect on Related Applications
The withdrawal of a main suit renders any related interlocutory applications incompetent, and such applications should be dismissed.

Legislation cited (2)

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.

Full judgment

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

National Water and Sewerage Corporation v Chance Eugene (Civil Suit No. 38 of 2019) [2023] UGHCCD 40 (27 February 2023)
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.