Charlotte Kamene Wandera v Peter Mutende Wandera [2003] KECA 132 (KLR)
The bottom line
#Kenya's Court of Appeal struck out an appeal notice filed late and never followed up, and made the intending appellant pay all costs.
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 respondent's Notice of Appeal, filed out of the prescribed time and on which no step was taken after filing, should be struck out.
- 2.Whether costs, including the costs of the application, should follow the strike-out.
Key legal issues
#Whether a Notice of Appeal filed out of the prescribed time, on which the intending appellant takes no step after filing, should be struck out.
Yes. The court struck out the Notice of Appeal where it was filed out of the prescribed time and no step was taken after filing, awarding costs including the costs of the application.
The ruling rests on two recited facts only: the Notice of Appeal was filed out of the prescribed time, and the respondent took no step after filing it. On those facts the court struck the notice out and awarded costs, including the costs of the application. No statute or rule is named, no argument or authority is recorded, and no principle is articulated beyond the operative order itself; the ruling's authority lies in what it ordered, namely the summary removal of a notice of appeal that was both out of time and unprosecuted.
Legal principles established
#- A Notice of Appeal filed out of the prescribed time on which the intending appellant takes no step after filing is liable to be struck out on the other side's application, with costs including the costs of the application.
Court orders
#- 1.The Notice of Appeal filed by the respondent in the intended appeal from H.C.D.C. No. 102 of 1998 (High Court of Kenya at Nairobi, Aganyanya J, judgment dated 2 May 2001) is struck out.
- 2.The respondent is to pay the costs of the striking out, including the costs of the application before the Court of Appeal.
The bench
#One judgment of the whole court — no separate or dissenting opinions.
- On appeal from
- High Court of Kenya at Nairobi
- H.C.D.C. No. 102 of 1998
- Jurisdiction invoked
- Not stated in the ruling. The application to strike out a Notice of Appeal was entertained under the Court of Appeal's power over its own process, but no constitutional or statutory provision or rule of court is cited in the judgment.
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.
The respondent having failed to take any step after the filing of the Notice of Appeal (itself out of the prescribed time) the Notice of Appeal is struck out with costs including the costs of the application.
An application to strike out a Notice of Appeal in an intended appeal from a Judgment of the High Court of Kenya at Nairobi (Justice Aganyanya) dated 2nd May, 2001
Issues in the judgment
#The year of the delivery date is printed with an internal space in the certified copy; the date is read as 12 February 2003.
Key timeline
#Practical implications
#Frequently asked questions
#Cite this brief
#Cite this brief
Caselaw, "Charlotte Kamene Wandera v Peter Mutende Wandera [2003] KECA 132 (KLR)", Case Analysis (2003). Civil Application No. Nai. 90 of 2002. Source: https://new.kenyalaw.org/akn/ke/judgment/keca/2003/132/eng@2003-02-12
Suggested citation format for research notes or client memos. Always verify the original judgment before relying on any point.