LDC COA/LDC/45065/LA

LEGAL ALERTS

What amounts to effective service of a notice of

appeal upon affected persons in the Court of Appeal.

It is vexatious litigation and an abuse of the processes

of this court against interlocutory orders that have
been denied by the lower trial court.

1. What amounts to effective service of a notice of appeal

upon affected persons in the Court of Appeal

“…Rule 78 of the rules of this Court provides for service of

notice of appeal on persons affected. Rule 78(1) of the
Rules of this Court provides that an intended appellant
shall, before or within seven days after lodging a notice of
appeal, serve copies of it on all persons directly affected by
the appeal; but the court may, on application, which may
be made ex parte, direct that service need not be effected
on any person who took no part in the proceedings in the
High Court. Rule 78(2) of the Rules of this Court provides
that where any person required to be served with a copy of
a notice of appeal gave any address for service in or in
connection with the proceedings in the High Court and, has
not subsequently given any other address for service, the
copy of the notice of appeal may be served on him or her

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at that address, notwithstanding that it may be that of an
advocate who has not been retained for the purpose of an
appeal.

In view of the fact that the Notice of Appeal stated the

addresses of persons intended to be served as the lawyers,
MMAKS Advocates, Shonubi Musoke & Co, Advocates and
SL Chambers, these were the advocates who had been
retained for the proceedings in the High Court. Though they
may have not been retained by the 1st to 3rd respondents
in the intended appeal, it has not been shown that the said
respondents subsequently gave other addresses of
service.

The Notice of Appeal therefore pursuant to rule 78 of the

Rules of this Court ought to have been served at the
addresses stated therein, and that within 7 days of lodging
it in the High Court, but it was not. I therefore find that, as
against the 1st to 3rd respondents in this application, there
is no valid Notice of Appeal before this court. There is
therefore no appeal within the meaning of rule 76(2) (b) of
the Rules of this Court. The application for an interim order
for an injunction against them cannot not be entertained
by this court; neither can it be sustained…”

2. It is vexatious litigation and an abuse of the processes

of this court against interlocutory orders that have been
denied by the lower trial court

“…In addition to the above, there is still before the High

Court HCCS No. 0022 of 2022, in which the application for
the temporary injunction to prevent payment on the
Advance payment Bonds was denied by Mubiru, J.
Ordinarily, a temporary injunction precedes a final order of
an injunction. The court has yet to determine that question
in that suit on its merits, after calling evidence from all the

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parties thereto, as opposed to evidence by affidavit which
the court relied upon to deny the order of a temporary
injunction. An appeal in such circumstances is to be
discouraged because in the event that the suit fails, it
would come to this court on an appeal which an order for a
temporary injunction on an application pending appeal
would pre-empt. The applicants should exhaust their
remedies in the High Court completely before they come to
this court on appeals over interlocutory orders that have
been denied in the lower court.

In my view, this is not only vexatious litigation but is an

abuse of the processes of this court. It is for that reason
that I deemed it unnecessary to entertain the application
against the 4th respondent, whom it is amply clear from
the affidavit of Ms. Nyadoi, does not want to meet her
obligations under the Advance Payment Bonds, or at all...”

VS HYDRO UGANDA LTD AND 3 ORS VERSUS RWENZORI

HYDRO (PTY) LTD AND 3 ORS

COURT OF APPEAL CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 155 OF 2023

[CORAM: IRENE MULYAGONJA, JA (AS SINGLE JUSTICE)]

JUDGMENT DELIVERED ON MAY 25, 2023

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