Wakilii

Threeways Shipping (K) Limited v Transpares Limited (Miscellaneous Application No. 1499 of 2025)

High Court · [2025] UGCOMMC 402 · 2025 Application Dismissed AI-generated summary ↓ Download Pin to watchlist Add to matter
Jurisdiction
Uganda
Case Type
Application to set aside default judgment entered in Civil Suit No. 279/2019 and for leave to appear and defend
Decision
Application to set aside default judgment dismissed with costs to the respondent

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

Application to set aside a six-year-old default judgment dismissed. The court held that service on the applicant's directors in Uganda, who directed the process server to their lawyer, constituted effective service under section 254 of the Companies Act. The applicant's six-year delay in challenging the judgment, despite participating in subsequent proceedings to lift the corporate veil, demonstrated inordinate delay and laxity. The applicant failed to demonstrate sufficient cause or triable issues warranting the setting aside of the default judgment.

Outcome

Application to set aside default judgment dismissed with costs to the respondent

Facts

The respondent supplied diesel fuel and weighbridge services to the applicant between 2015 and 2016. When the applicant failed to pay USD 126,000, the respondent filed Civil Suit No. 279/2019 in April 2019. A default judgment was entered on 27 August 2019. The respondent later filed Miscellaneous Application No. 837/2023 to lift the corporate veil, which was granted on 17 April 2024, permitting execution against the applicant's directors and parent company. The applicant filed this application in 2025, six years after the default judgment, seeking to set it aside on grounds of ineffective service and lack of jurisdiction, claiming it was a Kenyan company that should have been served in Kenya.

Issues

  1. Whether the application raises good or sufficient cause to warrant the setting aside of the default judgment and decree entered in Civil Suit No. 279/2019?
  2. Whether the applicant should be granted unconditional leave to defend the suit?

Orders

  • Application dismissed.
  • Costs awarded to the respondent.

Rules and key headnotes

Service of Process — Foreign Companies — Validity of Service on Directors
Where directors of a foreign company registered to conduct business in Uganda receive court process and direct the process server to serve their lawyer, such service is valid under section 254 of the Companies Act Cap 106, which provides that service on any person whose name has been delivered to the Registrar is sufficient service on a foreign company.
Setting Aside Default Judgments — Inordinate Delay
An application to set aside a default judgment brought six years after the judgment was entered, without satisfactory explanation for the delay, constitutes inordinate delay and will be dismissed, particularly where the applicant participated in subsequent related proceedings without challenging the judgment.
Setting Aside Default Judgments — Sufficient Cause
Under Order 36 rule 11 of the Civil Procedure Rules, a court may set aside a decree if satisfied that service of summons was not effective or for other good cause. The applicant must demonstrate that there was no negligence or inaction on their part. Where an applicant was aware of proceedings through participation in related applications but failed to challenge the judgment promptly, they have not established sufficient cause.
Setting Aside Default Judgments — Failure to Attach Draft Defence
While failure to attach a written statement of defence to an application to set aside a default judgment is not fatal, it lends less credence to the application as it fails to demonstrate to the court that there are triable issues and that the applicant has a real prospect of success.

Legislation cited (7)

Cases cited (9)

  • Kobi Samson v Barasi Investments Ltd (Miscellaneous Application No. 2986 of 2023)
  • Geoffrey Gatete v William Kyobe (Supreme Court Civil Appeal No. 7 of 2005)
  • Departed Asians Property Custodian Board v Issa Bukenya (Supreme Court Civil Appeal No. 18 of 1991)
  • Florence Nabatanzi v Naome Binsobedde (Supreme Court Civil Application No. 6 of 1987)
  • Hikima Kyamanywa v Sajjabi Chris (Court of Appeal Civil Appeal No. 1 of 2006)
  • Banco Arabe Espanol v Bank of Uganda (Supreme Court Civil Appeal No. 8 of 1998)
  • Gahire David v Uwayezu Immaculate (Civil Appeal No. 34 of 2008)
  • Rossette Kizito v Administrator General and Others (Supreme Court Civil Application No. 9 of 1986)
  • AMRA Leasing Ltd vs DAC Aviation (EA) Ltd & Others [2022] EWHC 1718 (Comm)

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.

Threeways Shipping (K) Limited v Transpares Limited (Miscellaneous Application No. 1499 of 2025) [2025] UGCommC 402 (4 November 2025)
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.