Wakilii

Sempijja v Roko Construction Ltd (Civil Suit No. 1100 of 2020)

High Court · [2021] UGCOMMC 78 · 2021 Judgment for Plaintiff AI-generated summary ↓ Download Pin to watchlist Add to matter
Jurisdiction
Uganda
Case Type
First instance civil suit for recovery of liquidated sum following dismissal of defendant's application for leave to defend
Decision
Judgment entered for plaintiff for the full claimed amount with costs

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

The High Court Commercial Division entered judgment for the plaintiff in a debt recovery suit for UGX 581,128,142 arising from unpaid transport services. The defendant's application for leave to defend was dismissed for failure to disclose triable issues. The court found the evidence clearly established the debt, which remained unchallenged, and awarded the full claimed amount plus costs.

Outcome

Judgment entered for plaintiff for the full claimed amount with costs

Facts

Between January 2013 and August 2020, the plaintiff provided transport services to the defendant, hauling aggregate stones from the defendant's quarry in Bukerere to its batch plant at Nasser Road, Kampala. The plaintiff issued invoices totalling UGX 3,817,765,404. The defendant made payments by cash and cheque between May 2013 and August 2020 totalling UGX 3,236,637,262, leaving an outstanding balance of UGX 581,128,142. Despite several demands, the defendant refused to pay the balance. The defendant filed an application for leave to appear and defend, which was dismissed on 3 September 2021 for failure to disclose triable issues.

Issues

  1. Whether the plaintiff established a debt owed by the defendant for transport services rendered.
  2. Whether the defendant disclosed triable issues warranting leave to defend.

Orders

  • Judgment entered against the defendant.
  • Defendant to pay plaintiff UGX 581,128,142.
  • Costs of the suit awarded to the plaintiff.

Rules and key headnotes

Civil Procedure — Summary Judgment — Leave to Defend — Failure to Disclose Triable Issues
Where a defendant's application for leave to defend fails to disclose any triable issues, the court may dismiss the application and enter judgment for the plaintiff on an unchallenged debt claim.
Contract Law — Debt Recovery — Proof of Debt — Unchallenged Claims
Where evidence on record clearly establishes a debt and the debt is not challenged by the defendant, the court will enter judgment for the full amount claimed.

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.

Sempijja v Roko Construction Ltd (Civil Suit No. 1100 of 2020) [2021] UGCommC 78 (3 September 2021)
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.