[2000] KEHC 487 (KLR)
The court found that the defendant's plea of fraud was defective as it lacked the required particulars, thereby offending Order VI rule 8 of the Civil Procedure Rules. Furthermore, the timing of the application for third party notices—filed only a day before the hearing of the plaintiff's summary judgment...
Source-derived case information.
- Citation
- [2000] KEHC 487 (KLR)
- Parties
- Plaintiff: Lawrence Muriuki Gatere; Defendant: Barichu Farmers Cooperative
- Court
- High Court
- Court Station
- High Court at Nairobi (Milimani Law Courts)
- Jurisdiction
- Kenya
- Case Number
- ? 1062 of 1999
- Procedural Posture
- Civil Case / Ruling on Application for Third Party Notices
- Outcome
- application dismissed with costs
- Legal Topics
- Third Party Proceedings, Pleading Requirements, Summary Judgment, Abuse of Process
- Source Language
- en
Source-derived case record
Summary, issues, holding and outcome
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Parties
Lawrence Muriuki Gatere
Plaintiff
Barichu Farmers Cooperative
Defendant
Procedural Posture
Civil Case / Ruling on Application for Third Party Notices
Legal Issues
- 1 Whether the defendant is entitled to issuance of third party notices against former management committee members.
- 2 Whether the plea of fraud in the defence is valid without particulars as required by law.
- 3 Whether the application for third party notices constitutes an abuse of court process.
Ratio Decidendi
The court found that the defendant's plea of fraud was defective as it lacked the required particulars, thereby offending Order VI rule 8 of the Civil Procedure Rules. Furthermore, the timing of the application for third party notices—filed only a day before the hearing of the plaintiff's summary judgment application—indicated that the application was not made in good faith but was instead a strategy to delay the plaintiff's recovery of the debt. The court concluded that the application lacked substance and amounted to an abuse of the court process, warranting its dismissal with costs.
Court Disposition
application dismissed with costs
Orders
- The application for third party notices is dismissed with costs to the plaintiff.
Full Case Text
Judgment text and source record
6 paragraphs
REPUBLIC OF KENYA
LAWRENCE MURIUKI GATERE V BARICHU FARMERS COOPERATIVE High Court Of Kenya At Nairobi June 27, 2000 Milimani Commercial Courts T Mbaluto, Judge Civil Case No. 1062 Of 1999
June 27, 2000 T Mbaluto, Judge delivered the following judgment.
This is an application for third party notices to be issued to some eleven (11) individuals all of whom are former members of the defendant’s management committee, the defendant being a co-operative society. According to the applicants, the basis for the application is an alleged fraud relating to the transaction giving rise to the claim whereby members of the management committee were allegedly involved in that fraud.
Although fraud is pleaded in the defence, no particulars thereof are given. The plea therefore offends Order VI rule 8 of the Civil Procedure Rules and is bad in law. It is also to be observed that the suit was filed on August 11, 1999 since which date no action has been taken to join the former members of the management committee until 29. 5.2000, just a day before the plaintiff’s application for summary judgment was coming up for hearing. In my view therefore, the alleged defence of fraud and the application to issue third party notices are nothing but a ploy to delay the plaintiff in the recovery of the debt.
The application clearly lacks substance and is an abuse of the process of this court. It is for those reasons dismissed with costs.