Wakilii

Tropical Commodity Suppliers Limited & 2 Ors v Internationa Credit Bank (In Liquidation) (Miscellaneous Application 647 of 2002)

High Court · [2003] UGCOMMC 132 · 2003 Application Dismissed AI-generated summary ↓ Download Pin to watchlist Add to matter
Jurisdiction
Uganda
Case Type
Application to review or set aside consent judgment entered in Civil Suit No. 132 of 1998
Decision
Application dismissed with costs to the Respondents

Observed later treatment

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Holding

The Court dismissed the application to set aside a consent judgment. A consent judgment is a contract between parties and can only be set aside for reasons that would enable the Court to rescind an agreement — fraud, collusion, public policy violation, or consent given without material facts. No such grounds were established. The third applicant's conduct after the consent judgment, including negotiating payment terms and making substantial payments totaling UGX 72 million, corroborated that the consent was authorized. The alleged newly discovered deposit was not new evidence as it existed before the suit commenced. A minor slip in a party's name was not fatal where there was no mistake as to identity.

Outcome

Application dismissed with costs to the Respondents

Facts

Three applicants sought to set aside a consent judgment entered on 7 September 2001 in Civil Suit No. 132 of 1998. Their grounds were that their counsel, Mr. Katuntu, signed the consent decree without the authority of the third applicant (Ateker Ejalu), and that new evidence (a USD 13,000 deposit) had been discovered. After the consent judgment, the third applicant negotiated payment terms with the respondent bank's counsel, proposed a repayment schedule, wrote letters acknowledging the decretal amount and his liability, and made payments totaling UGX 72 million. In February 2002, approximately seven months after the consent decree, the second applicant company's Managing Director wrote a letter confirming that the company's directors, including Ejalu as Chairman, had met with the bank's counsel, proposed settlement arrangements, and accepted full responsibility for the loan. The applicants claimed the USD 13,000 deposit should discharge them from liability, stating it was deposited as security for a loan facility in August 1993. They also argued that the first applicant was wrongly named in the original suit.

Issues

  1. Whether the Court should review or set aside a consent judgment on grounds that counsel signed without the authority of one applicant.
  2. Whether newly discovered evidence justified setting aside the consent judgment.
  3. Whether a minor error in a party's name in the pleadings rendered the consent judgment void.

Orders

  • Application to review or set aside the Court's Consent Judgment of 07/09/01 denied.
  • Prayer for production of banking statements abates.
  • Costs of the application awarded to the Respondents against the three Applicants jointly and severally.

Rules and key headnotes

Civil Procedure — Consent Judgments — Grounds for Setting Aside
A consent judgment is a contract between the parties and can only be set aside for a reason which would enable the Court to set aside or rescind an agreement, namely where the consent was obtained by fraud or collusion, or by an agreement contrary to the policy of the Court, or if the consent was given without sufficient material facts or in misapprehension or ignorance of material facts.
Civil Procedure — Consent Judgments — Binding Effect of Counsel's Consent
Any order made in the presence and with the consent of counsel is binding on all parties to the proceedings and on those claiming under them, unless obtained by fraud, collusion, or by an agreement contrary to the policy of the Court, or if the consent was given without sufficient material facts or in misapprehension or ignorance of material facts.
Civil Procedure — Consent Judgments — Conduct After Entry of Judgment
Where a party negotiates payment terms, acknowledges the decretal amount, and makes substantial payments pursuant to a consent judgment without protest or complaint, such conduct is corroborative of agreement to the consent judgment and precludes later claims that the consent was unauthorized.
Civil Procedure — Review of Consent Judgments — Newly Discovered Evidence
Evidence cannot be claimed as newly discovered where it existed and was known by all parties at the inception of the transaction and throughout the pendency and hearing of the suit.
Civil Procedure — Misnomer — Substantive Justice over Technicalities
Courts are enjoined by the Constitution to administer substantive justice without undue regard to technicalities, and a slight difference in the name of a party in the record is not fatal where there is no mistake as to the identity of the parties and the error is an evident slip of the pen.

Cases cited (5)

  • Hirani v Kassam (1952) 19 EACA 131
  • Brooke Bond Liebig v Mallya [1975] EA 267
  • Kawoya v Uganda (Supreme Court Criminal Appeal No. 50 of 1999)
  • Lobo v Salim [1961] EA 223
  • Kassam v Habre International Ltd [2000] 1 EA 98

Full judgment

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Tropical Commodity Suppliers Limited & 2 Ors v Internationa Credit Bank (In Liquidation) (Miscellaneous Application 647 of 2002) [2003] UGCommC 132 (21 May 2003)
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.