Wakilii

Wycliffe K. Kato v Kizito Abdul Abiola and Another (Miscellaneous Application No. 1415 of 2024)

High Court · [2025] UGHCLD 373 · 2025 Application Granted AI-generated summary ↓ Download Pin to watchlist Add to matter
Jurisdiction
Uganda
Case Type
Application to reinstate civil suit dismissed for want of prosecution under Order 17 rule 5
Decision
Civil Suit No. 292 of 2018 reinstated; applicant to seek hearing date after disposal of related suit

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

Court allowed application to reinstate suit dismissed under Order 17 rule 5 for want of prosecution. Where counsel erroneously recorded wrong hearing date causing non-appearance, and applicant had made consistent prior appearances, court found honest error was made. Reinstatement granted with costs in cause, but applicant directed to seek hearing date only after disposal of related pending suit.

Outcome

Civil Suit No. 292 of 2018 reinstated; applicant to seek hearing date after disposal of related suit

Facts

Civil Suit No. 292 of 2018 was filed in 2018 and dismissed on 27 June 2024 under Order 17 rule 5 for want of prosecution. Parties received pre-trial directions on 3 October 2022 with hearing fixed for 13 April 2023, but 2nd defendant's counsel was on study leave. On 12 October 2023, parties reported joint scheduling memorandum was pending defendants' input. Court directed completion of pre-trial documents and rescheduled hearing for 27-30 May 2024. On the hearing date, plaintiff and his advocate were absent, leading to dismissal. Applicant's counsel had erroneously recorded wrong date causing the non-appearance. Prior to this, applicant and counsel had made consistent court appearances.

Issues

  1. Whether the suit should be reinstated after dismissal for want of prosecution under Order 17 rule 5 where counsel's error caused non-appearance.

Orders

  • Application to reinstate Civil Suit No. 292 of 2018 allowed.
  • Costs in the cause.
  • Applicant at liberty to seek hearing date after disposal of Civil Suit No. 1086 of 2020.

Rules and key headnotes

Civil Procedure — Dismissal for Want of Prosecution — Reinstatement — Counsel's Error
Where a suit is dismissed for want of prosecution under Order 17 rule 5 due to counsel's honest error in recording the wrong hearing date, and the applicant had made consistent prior court appearances, the court may exercise discretion to reinstate the suit in the interest of justice.
Civil Procedure — Order 17 Rule 5 — Mandatory Scheduling Conference — Application Before Conference Held
Order 17 rule 5 contemplates dismissal where no step is taken after the mandatory scheduling conference, but where parties never had the opportunity to hold the mandatory scheduling conference, the strict application of the rule may be relaxed.

Legislation cited (2)

Full judgment

↓ Download PDF

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

Wycliffe_K._Kato_v_Kizito_Abdul_Abiola_and_Another_(Miscellaneous_Application_No._1415_of_2024)_[2025]_UGHCLD_373_(7_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.