Registered Trustees of Kampala Arch Diocese v Muyimba 50 Others TA Nsambya Market Vendors Association Capital Shoppers [2025] UGHCLD 18

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

Court held that a third-party notice must be filed within 15 days from the date of the order granting leave to issue it, in accordance with Civil Procedure Rules Order 1 rule 14(4) read with Order 8 rule 1(2). Where the 2nd respondent filed the third-party notice 27 days after obtaining leave and provided no sufficient cause for the delay, the notice was struck out for being filed out of time.

Outcome

Third-party notice struck out; application succeeded with costs

Facts

The Registered Trustees of Kampala Arch Diocese brought an application seeking to strike out a third-party notice filed by Capital Shoppers Ltd (2nd respondent) or alternatively for leave to file a defence out of time. The 2nd respondent obtained leave to issue a third-party notice on 30 May 2024 but only filed the notice on 26 June 2024, 27 days later. The third-party notice was served on the applicant on 10 July 2024. The applicant's counsel mistakenly failed to assign a colleague to respond to the notice before proceeding on leave, discovering the omission only upon return when the time to file defence had expired. The 2nd respondent argued that parties had consented to the third-party notice and that no law required it to be filed within 15 days of the order.

Issues

1. Whether the third-party notice should be struck out for being filed out of time without leave of court.
2. Whether the Applicant has demonstrated sufficient cause for the delay to warrant leave to file its Written Statement of Defence out of time.

Orders

• The third-party notice by the 2nd respondent filed on the 26th day of June 2024 is hereby struck out for having been filed out of time.
• The 2nd respondent shall bear the costs associated with the application.
• Application allowed.

Rules and key headnotes

Legislation cited (3)

• Civil Procedure Rules Order 1 rule 14(1)
• Civil Procedure Rules Order 1 rule 14(4)
• Civil Procedure Rules Order 8 rule 1(2)

Cases cited (1)

• Stop and See (U) Ltd v Tropical Africa Bank Ltd (Miscellaneous Application No. 333 of 2010)

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