[2018] KEELRC 153 (KLR)
The court held that the application for reference against the Taxing Master's decision was filed out of time, as it was brought more than nine months after the ruling was delivered, contrary to the requirement that such references be filed within 14 days. The applicants did not provide any reasons or justification...
Source-derived case information.
- Citation
- [2018] KEELRC 153 (KLR)
- Parties
- Applicant: Ali Kulo Godana & 8 Others; Respondent: Jiangxi Zhongmei Engineering Construction Company Limited
- Court
- Employment and Labour Relations Court
- Court Station
- Employment and Labour Relations Court at Nyeri
- Jurisdiction
- Kenya
- Case Number
- Cause 166, 167, 168, 169, 170, 171, 172, 173 & 174 of 2015
- Procedural Posture
- Miscellaneous Application / Ruling on Application for Reference Against Taxation
- Outcome
- application dismissed
- Judges
- AN Makau
- Legal Topics
- Taxation of Costs, Reference Out of Time, Court Timelines, Consolidation of Matters
- Source Language
- en
Source-derived case record
Summary, issues, holding and outcome
More case intelligence is available
Unlock the full research layer for this judgment.
Parties
Ali Kulo Godana & 8 Others
Applicant
Jiangxi Zhongmei Engineering Construction Company Limited
Respondent
Procedural Posture
Miscellaneous Application / Ruling on Application for Reference Against Taxation
Legal Issues
- 1 Whether the application for reference against the Taxing Master's decision was filed within the prescribed time limit.
- 2 Whether the court can entertain a reference filed out of time without sufficient cause for delay.
- 3 Whether the failure to award fees separately prior to consolidation justifies re-taxation.
Ratio Decidendi
The court held that the application for reference against the Taxing Master's decision was filed out of time, as it was brought more than nine months after the ruling was delivered, contrary to the requirement that such references be filed within 14 days. The applicants did not provide any reasons or justification for the delay. The court found that there was no basis to entertain the application or to refer the matter back for re-taxation, as the applicants' counsel failed to adhere to the rules and timelines. The motion was therefore dismissed as incompetent.
Court Disposition
application dismissed
Orders
- The application dated 11th October 2018 is dismissed.
- There is no order as to costs.
Full Case Text
Judgment text and source record
16 paragraphs
REPUBLIC OF KENYA
IN THE EMPLOYMENT & LABOUR RELATIONS COURT OF KENYA
AT NYERI
CAUSE 166 OF 2015
(As Consolidated with Cause No’s. 167, 168, 169, 170, 171, 172, 173 &174 all of 2015)
ALI KULO GODANA &8 OTHERS....................................CLAIMANT/APPLICANTS
VERSUS
JIANGXI ZHONGMEI ENGINEERING
CONSTRUCTION COMPANY LIMITED.................................................RESPONDENT
RULING
1. The Notice of Motion application before me is the Claimant/Applicant’s application dated 11th October 2018 and filed on 25th October 2018 seeking to have the matters referred back to the Taxing Master for re-taxation. The grounds for the motion are the failure to award the instructions fees, service fees, court attendance fees, and disbursements separately prior to the order of consolidation as ordered by the court. The motion is unopposed by the Respondent who though served never filed any documents in opposition.
2. The motion before the court is supposed to have been filed as a reference against the taxation of the learned Taxing Master and should have been filed within 14 days of the delivery of the Ruling of the Taxing Master which was issued on 18th January 2018. The motion filed on 25th October 2018 is hopelessly out of time and though the grounds for the motion are the failure to award the instructions fees, service fees, court attendance fees, and disbursements separately prior to the order of consolidation as ordered by the court, there is nothing this court can do as the window was shut by effluxion of time. It is not as if the Applicants were lay people or that there is a ground for re-taxing the matters. No reasons are advanced as to why there was such a monumental delay in seeking interposition against the decision of the Taxing Master given in January 2018 by the learned Taxing Master herein. The Applicant’s counsel failed to adhere to the rules and keeping to the timelines for a reference. The motion is therefore fit only for dismissal. As it was unopposed there is no order for costs.
It is so ordered.
Dated and delivered at Nyeri this 13th day of December 2018
Nzioki wa Makau
JUDGE