Wakilii

Total (U) Ltd v Mugenzi (Civil Suit 1046 of 1990)

High Court · [1995] UGHC 86 · 1995 Judgment for Plaintiff AI-generated summary ↓ Download Pin to watchlist Add to matter
Jurisdiction
Uganda
Case Type
First instance civil suit for recovery of debt arising from unpaid petroleum products supplied under credit facility
Decision
Judgment entered for plaintiff with interest and costs; defendant's claim for set-off dismissed for want of evidence

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.

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 court held that the defendant was indebted to the plaintiff in the sum of shs. 29,990,000/= based on an admission of indebtedness dated 14 May 1990 and a subsequent written agreement dated 18 May 1990. The defendant's partial defence claiming set-off for alleged losses from a defective pump failed for want of evidence. Judgment was entered for the plaintiff with costs and interest at court rate from judgment until payment in full.

Outcome

Judgment entered for plaintiff with interest and costs; defendant's claim for set-off dismissed for want of evidence

Facts

The plaintiff Total (U) Ltd and defendant Pascal Byron Mugenzi executed a marketing licence agreement from 1 October 1986 to about 30 September 1988 under which the defendant acted as the plaintiff's agent, purchasing petroleum products and selling them to the public. After the agreement expired, the defendant continued operating the plaintiff's petrol station. The defendant was granted a credit facility because he was undercapitalised. By 14 May 1990, the defendant signed an admission of indebtedness acknowledging he owed shs. 26,490,000/= for petroleum products purchased on credit between December 1989 and 1 February 1990, for which his cheques were dishonoured. The defendant undertook to liquidate this sum by 31 December 1990. The plaintiff granted him a further load-over-load credit facility of shs. 3,500,000/=. A written agreement dated 18 May 1990 formalised these arrangements. The defendant failed to comply with either the payment undertaking or to pay the further credit extended, resulting in a total indebtedness of shs. 29,990,000/=. At trial, the defendant and his counsel did not appear.

Issues

  1. Whether the defendant was indebted to the plaintiff in the sum of shs. 29,990,000/= for petroleum products supplied.
  2. Whether the defendant's claim of loss from a defective pump could be set off against the plaintiff's claim.

Orders

  • Judgment entered for the plaintiff in the sum of shs. 29,990,000/=.
  • Costs awarded to the plaintiff.
  • Decretal amount to bear interest at court rate from date of judgment till payment in full.

Rules and key headnotes

Contract Law — Credit Agreements — Admission of Indebtedness — Evidential Value
A written admission of indebtedness signed by a debtor constitutes cogent evidence of the debt and binds the debtor to the amount acknowledged unless successfully challenged.
Civil Procedure — Default Judgment — Defendant's Absence at Trial
Where a defendant pleads a defence but neither he nor his counsel appears at trial, the court may hear the case in their absence and enter judgment based on the plaintiff's evidence.
Evidence — Burden of Proof — Set-Off — Failure to Adduce Evidence
Where a defendant pleads a partial defence of set-off based on alleged losses, the burden lies on the defendant to adduce evidence supporting the claim; failure to produce such evidence results in the defence failing.
Contract Law — Interest on Debt — Entitlement to Contractual Rate
Where a plaintiff claims interest at a specified contractual rate but fails to adduce evidence justifying that rate, the court may decline to award interest at the claimed rate and instead award interest at the court rate from the date of judgment.

Full judgment

↓ Download PDF

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

Total (U) Ltd v Mugenzi (Civil Suit 1046 of 1990) [1995] UGHC 86 (6 March 1995)
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.