[2017] KEELC 2873 (KLR)
The court found that the Defendant, having failed to file written submissions as directed, did not prosecute the Preliminary Objection. Consequently, the Preliminary Objection was dismissed for want of prosecution. The court did not address the substantive legal issues regarding locus standi or capacity to sue, as...
Source-derived case information.
- Citation
- [2017] KEELC 2873 (KLR)
- Parties
- Plaintiff: The Trustee Kwa Mutu Pentecostal Evangelistic Fellowship of Africa Alias PEFA Church; Defendant: Pastor Raphael Muthini
- Court
- Environment and Land Court
- Court Station
- Environment and Land Court at Machakos
- Jurisdiction
- Kenya
- Case Number
- Civil Case 242 of 2010
- Procedural Posture
- Civil Case / Ruling on Preliminary Objection
- Outcome
- Preliminary Objection dismissed for want of prosecution.
- Legal Topics
- Locus Standi, Capacity to Sue, Preliminary Objection, Societies Act, Dismissal for Want of Prosecution
- Source Language
- en
Source-derived case record
Summary, issues, holding and outcome
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Parties
The Trustee Kwa Mutu Pentecostal Evangelistic Fellowship of Africa Alias PEFA Church
Plaintiff
Pastor Raphael Muthini
Defendant
Procedural Posture
Civil Case / Ruling on Preliminary Objection
Legal Issues
- 1 Whether the Plaintiff has locus standi to file the suit.
- 2 Whether the Plaintiff, as a society, has legal capacity to sue or be sued in its own name.
- 3 Whether the Preliminary Objection should be dismissed for want of prosecution.
Ratio Decidendi
The court found that the Defendant, having failed to file written submissions as directed, did not prosecute the Preliminary Objection. Consequently, the Preliminary Objection was dismissed for want of prosecution. The court did not address the substantive legal issues regarding locus standi or capacity to sue, as the procedural failure by the Defendant was dispositive.
Court Disposition
Preliminary Objection dismissed for want of prosecution.
Orders
- The Preliminary Objection dated 8th October, 2012 is dismissed with costs.
Full Case Text
Judgment text and source record
17 paragraphs
REPUBLIC OF KENYA
ENVIRONMENT AND LAND COURT AT MACHAKOS
CIVIL CASE NO. 242 OF 2010
THE TRUSTEE KWA MUTU PENTECOSTAL
EVANGELISTIC FELLOWSHIP OF AFRICA
Alias PEFA CHURCH.....................................................................PLAINTIFF
VERSUS
PASTOR RAPHAEL MUTHINI...................................................DEFENDANT
RULING
1. In the Preliminary Objection dated 8th October, 2012, the Defendant has prayed that the suit as filed is bad in law and fatally defective; that the Plaintiff has no locus standi to file the suit and that the Plaintiff is not a legal entity with capacity to sue or be sued.
2. The Defendant has further averred in the said Notice of Preliminary Objection that the purported trustee to the Plaintiff is neither named nor described in the Plaint and that the Plaintiff is registered as a society under the Societies Act and that it is incapable of suing in its own name.
3. Although the court directed that the Preliminary Objection be argued by way of written submissions, it is only the Plaintiff who filed its submissions on 8th June, 2015.
4. In the absence of the Defendant’s submission, the Preliminary objection remains unprosecuted.
5. Having failed to file submissions as directed by the court, the Preliminary Objection dated 8th October, 2012 is dismissed with costs for want of prosecution.
DATED, SIGNED and DELIVERED in MACHAKOS this 19th DAY OF MAY, 2017.
O. A. ANGOTE,
JUDGE.