Gateway Insurance Co. Limited v Joseph Kinyanjui Haron [2001] KECA 66 (KLR)
The bottom line
#Kenya's Court of Appeal ruled the 60-day appeal deadline doesn't start until the court supplies the documents needed to file the appeal.
What this practically means
#Executive summary
#Questions the Court framed
#The issues the Court set itself to decide, in its own words.
- 1.Whether the Notice of Appeal filed on March 6, 2000 should be struck out for failure to file the appeal within the stipulated sixty days
Key legal issues
#Whether an appeal is out of time where copies of proceedings have not been supplied by the court
The application to strike out the Notice of Appeal for failure to file the appeal within sixty days had no basis because the limitation period had not commenced, the court itself not having supplied the proceedings.
Counsel on both sides confirmed that copies of proceedings had not been supplied to the respondent by the court to enable him mount an appeal. In the court's view, that failure meant the sixty-day period within which to file the appeal had not begun to run, so the Notice of Appeal could not be struck out under rule 80 of the Court of Appeal Rules. The application was therefore dismissed with costs.
Legal principles established
#- Where a court has failed to supply copies of proceedings to an intending appellant, the time within which to file the appeal does not run, and a Notice of Appeal cannot be struck out on the ground that the appeal was not filed within the stipulated sixty days.
Court orders
#- 1.The application to strike out the Notice of Appeal is dismissed
- 2.The applicant to pay the costs of the application
The bench
#One judgment of the whole court — no separate or dissenting opinions.
- On appeal from
- High Court of Kenya at Kitale
- H.C.C. Appeal No. 87 of 1997
- Jurisdiction invoked
- Rule 80 of the Court of Appeal Rules
Relief refused
#Striking out of the Notice of Appeal filed on March 6, 2000
Copies of proceedings had not been supplied to the respondent by the court, so the time within which to file the appeal had not run
Costs
The application was dismissed with costs (costs to the respondent).
Quotable passages
#Verbatim from the judgment, each located to the page it appears on in the official PDF — so these can be cited and checked directly.
It has been confirmed by both counsel that copies of proceedings have not been supplied to the respondent by the court to enable him mount an appeal.
In those circumstances we are of the view that the application has no basis because the time within which to file the appeal in this Court has not run.
Accordingly we dismiss the application with costs.
Issues in the judgment
#The text of the ruling contains typographical corruption where lines run together (e.g. 'sixtyI td ayhsa.s been confirmed' and 'has not rAucnc oroduitn.gly'), obscuring parts of the reasoning.
Key timeline
#Practical implications
#Frequently asked questions
#Cite this brief
#Cite this brief
Caselaw, "Gateway Insurance Co. Limited v Joseph Kinyanjui Haron [2001] KECA 66 (KLR)", Case Analysis (2001). Civil Application No. NAI.62 of 2001. Source: https://new.kenyalaw.org/akn/ke/judgment/keca/2001/66/eng@2001-09-26
Suggested citation format for research notes or client memos. Always verify the original judgment before relying on any point.