Wakilii

Ojijo v Brown (MISCELLANEOUS APPLICATION NO.758 2017)

High Court · [2020] UGHCCD 225 · 2020 Application Granted — Decree Set Aside AI-generated summary ↓ Download Pin to watchlist Add to matter
Jurisdiction
Uganda
Case Type
Application for review of decree arising from summary suit for recovery of liquidated sum
Decision
Decree set aside; matter remitted for hearing on merits with applicant permitted to file defence

Observed later treatment

No later-treatment classification is recorded for this judgment.

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Holding

Held that the decree in Civil Suit No. 228 of 2017 was set aside on review. The court found errors apparent on the record, including the absence of a formal judgment from which the decree was extracted, irregularities in pleadings allowing general damages claims in a summary suit, and lack of evidence showing how the liquidated sum was arrived at. Application allowed; matter to be heard on merits.

Outcome

Decree set aside; matter remitted for hearing on merits with applicant permitted to file defence

Facts

The respondent filed a summary suit (Civil Suit No. 228 of 2017) seeking recovery of UGX 120,124,429 described as general damages, plus interest at 10% per month and costs. The applicant's application for leave to appear and defend was dismissed. A decree was subsequently entered on 28 September 2017. The respondent later wrote to the trial court acknowledging it was irregular to seek general damages under summary procedure and requesting that prayer be deleted. The applicant then filed this application for review of the decree on grounds including absence of a formal judgment on record, improper commencement procedure, and irregularities in the pleadings and amounts awarded.

Issues

  1. Whether the court should review and consequently set aside the decree in the head suit.
  2. Whether there were errors apparent on the face of the record justifying review.

Orders

  • Application allowed.
  • Decree in Civil Suit No. 228 of 2017 reviewed and set aside.
  • Applicant allowed to file a defence.
  • Matter to be heard on merit.
  • Each party to bear its own costs.

Rules and key headnotes

Review — Errors Apparent on Face of Record — Definition and Scope
An error apparent on the face of the record must be self-evident and not require elaborate argument to establish. There is a real distinction between a mere erroneous decision and an error apparent on the face of the record. Where an error on a substantial point of law stares one in the face and there could reasonably be no two opinions, a clear case of error apparent is made out. An error which has to be established by a long drawn process of reasoning or on points where there may conceivably be two opinions cannot be said to be an error apparent on the face of the record.
Review — Grounds for Review — Wrong Conclusion of Law Distinguished
That the court proceeded on an incorrect exposition of law and reached an erroneous conclusion of law is not a proper ground for review. Misconstruing a statute or provision of law cannot be ground for review but could be proper ground for appeal, since in that case the court will have made a conscious decision on the matters in controversy. If the court reached a wrong conclusion of law, it could be good ground for appeal but not review, otherwise the court would be sitting in appeal on its own judgment which is not permissible in law.
Summary Suits — General Damages — Improper Claim
It is an illegality to seek general damages under summary procedure. Where a summary suit improperly includes a claim for general damages, the irregularity in the pleadings requires a cure before actual hearing of the suit. A decree extracted from such irregular pleadings without rectification is tainted and constitutes an error apparent on the record justifying review.
Review — Absence of Judgment — Invalid Decree
Where a decree is entered but there is no formal judgment on the court record from which the decree could have been extracted, and nothing on record reflecting how the court arrived at the liquidated sum granted, this constitutes an error apparent on the record warranting review and setting aside of the decree.

Legislation cited (3)

Cases cited (1)

  • Nyamogo & Nyamogo Advocates v Kago [2001] 2 EA 173

Full judgment

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

Ojijo v Brown (MISCELLANEOUS APPLICATION NO.758 2017) [2020] UGHCCD 225 (26 March 2020)
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.