Precious Gardens Residents Association v Precious Heights Ltd & 4 others (Environment & Land Petition 51 of 2015) [2022] KEELC 51 (KLR)
The bottom line
#A Nairobi court made everyone pay their own legal bills after residents and developers settled a housing dispute early without revealing the settlement terms.
What this practically means
#Executive summary
#Questions the Court framed
#The issues the Court set itself to decide, in its own words.
- 1.Who should bear the costs of the suit where the parties settled the dispute at an early stage of the proceedings without disclosing the terms of settlement
Key legal issues
#Award of costs after settlement of a petition before hearing
The court exercised its discretion to direct that each party bear their own costs, given the early, undisclosed settlement
The court relied on the 'costs follow the event' principle from Supreme Court authority but noted the parties never disclosed the terms of their settlement, which occurred at an infancy stage of the suit before any responses to the petition were filed. Balancing these circumstances, the court held the ends of justice were best met by each party bearing their own costs.
Legal principles established
#- Costs follow the event but remain subject to the judiciously-exercised discretion of the court accommodating the special circumstances of the case
Court orders
#- 1.Each party to bear their own costs of the suit
The bench
#One judgment of the whole court — no separate or dissenting opinions.
Wrote the judgment
- Jurisdiction invoked
- Original constitutional petition jurisdiction; judgment confined to the issue of costs following settlement
Relief refused
#Costs against the Respondents
The dispute was resolved at an infancy stage of the suit, no responses had been filed, and the parties did not disclose the terms of their settlement
Costs
Each party bears their own costs of the suit
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.
In that regard and in order to meet the ends of justice, I exercise my discretion in directing that each party bears their own costs of the suit.
It emerges that the award of costs would normally be guided by the principle that "Costs follow the event".
The parties did not give the court a sneak preview of the terms of their settlement. They simply stated that the dispute was resolved.
Issues in the judgment
#Judgment refers to parties inconsistently as Respondents and Defendants in the record of proceedings
Typographical errors in the quoted passage ('efiect', 'succeful')
The names of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Respondents are not stated in the judgment
Key timeline
#Practical implications
#Frequently asked questions
#Cite this brief
#Cite this brief
Caselaw, "Precious Gardens Residents Association v Precious Heights Ltd & 4 others (Environment & Land Petition 51 of 2015) [2022] KEELC 51 (KLR)", Case Analysis (2022). Petition dated October 4, 2019. Source: https://new.kenyalaw.org/akn/ke/judgment/keelc/2022/51/eng@2022-05-26
Suggested citation format for research notes or client memos. Always verify the original judgment before relying on any point.