BEATRICE WANJIRU KIMANI v EVANSON KIMANI NJOROGE [1998] KECA 20 (KLR)
The bottom line
#A Kenyan taxing officer cut a lawyer's fee bill from Ksh.300,000 to Ksh.127,311, showing courts will slash inflated legal costs.
What this practically means
#Executive summary
#Key legal issues
#Reasonableness of instructions fee on appeal
Instructions fee reduced from Ksh.300,000/= to Ksh.120,000/=, taking into account the complexity of the appeal, the work involved and the authorities cited
The taxing officer considered the notes of proceedings, the judgments of the three Judges of Appeal, the general conduct of the matter, and the complexity of the issues. Although the appeal raised complex issues including alleged bias of the trial judge on matrimonial property, complexity was only one of many factors, and Ksh.120,000/= was held reasonable.
Departure from a previous taxation ruling on getting up fee
The taxing officer declined to depart from his earlier ruling allowing getting up fee, absent contrary authority or new reasons
Counsel for the appellant asked the taxing officer to depart from his earlier ruling and award a quarter of the instructions fee as getting up fee under rule 9(4) of the Third Schedule. The officer held that no authority to the contrary was cited and no new reasons were advanced, so the earlier decision stood and the item was disallowed in total.
Consequential disallowance where a substantial portion of profit costs is disallowed
Items 6 to 9, including attendance costs, were disallowed because more than one quarter of the profit costs claimed was disallowed
The taxing officer applied the consequential consequence of the substantial taxation-off of profit costs: since more than one quarter was disallowed, the follow-on items in the bill, including the costs of attendance before the taxing officer, could not stand and were disallowed.
Legal principles established
#- Where more than one quarter of the profit costs claimed is disallowed on taxation, the consequential items including attendance costs are disallowed
Court orders
#- 1.Instructions fee on item 1 allowed at Ksh.120,000/=, with Ksh.180,000/= taxed off
- 2.Getting up fee disallowed in total
- 3.Ksh.16,500/= taxed off item 4 and Ksh.4,000/= taxed off item 5
- 4.Items 6, 7, 8 and 9 of the bill of costs, including costs for attendance before the taxing officer, disallowed
- 5.Bill of costs taxed at Ksh.127,311/= (Ksh.126,050/= plus Ksh.1,261/=)
- On appeal from
- High Court of Kenya at Nairobi
- H.C.C.C No. 1610 of 1995 (O.S)
- Jurisdiction invoked
- Taxation of a bill of costs under the Third Schedule to the Court of Appeal Rules (rule 9(4) and rule 3(2)(c) and 3(3)) following the Court of Appeal judgment of November 21, 1997
Key timeline
#Practical implications
#Frequently asked questions
#Cite this brief
#Cite this brief
Caselaw, "BEATRICE WANJIRU KIMANI v EVANSON KIMANI NJOROGE [1998] KECA 20 (KLR)", Case Analysis (1998). Civil Appeal 79 of 1997. Source: https://new.kenyalaw.org/akn/ke/judgment/keca/1998/20/eng@1998-12-04
Suggested citation format for research notes or client memos. Always verify the original judgment before relying on any point.