Postal Corporation of Kenya & another v Aineah Likumba Asienya & 11 others [2018] KECA 326 (KLR)
The bottom line
#Kenya's Court of Appeal cancelled a Kshs.36.5 million summary judgment against Postal Corporation because a self-quantified claim isn't automatically a debt.
What this practically means
#Executive summary
#Key legal issues
#Whether the respondents' claim was a liquidated demand
The claim was not liquidated; it was speculative, not ascertained or agreed, and required strict proof notwithstanding the respondents' own quantification.
Applying the definitions of a liquidated demand in Black's Law Dictionary and the Supreme Court Practice, the Court held that a claim becomes liquidated only where the amount is already ascertained or ascertainable as a mere matter of arithmetic. The respondents' figures were self-computed based on comparator retrenchment packages (civil service and KCB schemes) that themselves required proof; the amounts were neither admitted nor agreed, so summary judgment was unavailable.
Whether the defences on record disclosed triable issues despite the absence of an amended defence
The statements of defence were not sham and raised triable issues; there was a joinder of issue under order 2 rule 12(2), so the trial judge erred in granting summary judgment.
The Court held it immaterial that no amended defence had been filed. The original defences denied the claims, attacked the scheduling of special damages as an abuse of process and alleged prejudice, and the replying affidavit annexed a proposed amended defence and counterclaim including the respondents' admitted indebtedness. Whether the claimed packages matched the civil service and KCB comparator schemes were matters requiring evidence at trial.
Whether the trial court should have applied the repealed or the 2010 Civil Procedure Rules
Not determined; the Court found it unnecessary to decide other issues once the claim was held not to be liquidated.
The appellants argued that under Order 54 rule 2 of the Civil Procedure Rules, 2010, pending proceedings were governed by the new Rules under which summary judgment was unavailable where a defence existed, while the respondents invoked the same transitional provision to defend the trial court's use of the repealed Rules. The Court expressly declined to consider this and other issues as superfluous given its firm finding on the liquidated-demand question.
Legal principles established
#- Quantification of a claim by a party does not of itself make it a liquidated demand; a speculative claim requiring strict proof is not a debt or liquidated demand for summary judgment.
- Summary judgment is reserved for the clearest of cases; where a bona fide triable issue is shown, the defendant must be allowed to defend unconditionally.
- A defence raising triable issues need not be a defence that must succeed; it suffices that it discloses issues that ought to go to trial, and an unamended defence on record may still raise such issues.
Court orders
#- 1.Appeal allowed
- 2.The ruling and the subsequent decree of the High Court set aside
- 3.The appellants awarded costs of the appeal
- On appeal from
- High Court of Kenya at Nairobi
- HCCCC No. 688 of 2007
- Jurisdiction invoked
- First appellate jurisdiction over an appeal from the High Court (ruling and decree in HCCCC No. 688 of 2007)
Key timeline
#Practical implications
#Frequently asked questions
#Later judgments citing this (1)
#Judgments in the corpus that rely on this one. Where the Court said how it treated the authority, that is shown.
- Velos Enterprises Limited v Paragon Electronics LTD & 3 others (Civil Appeal 274 of 2018) [2026] KECA 1273 (KLR)[2026] KECA 1273 (KLR)3 Jul 2026applied
Cite this brief
#Cite this brief
Caselaw, "Postal Corporation of Kenya & another v Aineah Likumba Asienya & 11 others [2018] KECA 326 (KLR)", Case Analysis (2018). Civil Appeal No. 275 of 2014. Source: https://new.kenyalaw.org/akn/ke/judgment/keca/2018/326/eng@2018-09-21
Suggested citation format for research notes or client memos. Always verify the original judgment before relying on any point.