Mereka & Company Advocates v Nicola Farms Limited (Environment & Land Miscellaneous Case E065 of 2023) [2025] KEELC 4014 (KLR)
The bottom line
#Kenya's Environment and Land Court can enforce lawyers' fees arising from land cases, so clients and advocates need not file in the High Court.
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 Preliminary Objection dated 10/12/2024 by the Client/Respondent meets the fundamental threshold of a preliminary objection
- 2.Costs of the objection
Key legal issues
#Whether the preliminary objection on jurisdiction was a pure point of law properly raised
Yes - jurisdiction is a pure point of law, so the objection was properly before the court and considered on its merits.
The court applied the Mukisa Biscuits definition: a preliminary objection must raise a pure point of law argued on the assumption that the facts pleaded are correct. A challenge to jurisdiction requires no ascertainment of facts and goes to the court's power, so it qualified as a proper preliminary objection and was heard on the merits.
Whether the ELC has jurisdiction to determine the Advocate's application for entry of judgment on a taxed Advocate/client bill of costs
Yes. The bill emanated from services rendered in a matter before the ELC; the ELC is a superior court of equal status with the High Court and its Deputy Registrar lawfully taxed the bill, so the application for entry of judgment lies in the ELC.
Article 162(2)(b) and Section 13 of the ELC Act confer jurisdiction over environment and land disputes. The taxed bill arose from services in ELC Misc. App. No. 66 of 2019. Requiring the application to be filed in the High Court would force files to fly between courts of equal status contrary to Article 159. Persuasive authority (Bruce Odeny) supports taxation before the court where services were rendered.
Legal principles established
#- Bills of costs arising from legal services rendered in proceedings before the ELC are to be taxed and enforced in the ELC, which has equal status with the High Court.
Court orders
#- 1.The Client/Respondent's Preliminary Objection dated 10/12/2024 is unmerited and is dismissed with costs to the Advocate
The bench
#One judgment of the whole court — no separate or dissenting opinions.
Wrote the judgment
- Jurisdiction invoked
- Article 162(2)(b) of the Constitution and Section 13 of the Environment and Land Court Act
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.
Jurisdiction is everything. Without it, a Court has no power to make one more step.
Consequently, the Client/Respondent's Preliminary Objection dated 10/12/2024 is unmerited
It is hereby dismissed with costs to the Advocate.
Issues in the judgment
#Internal inconsistency in the dates of the Bill of Costs and Certificate of Taxation
Discrepancy in the taxed amount: Kshs 406,997.34 in the application versus Kshs 406,977.34 in the pleadings
Key timeline
#Practical implications
#Frequently asked questions
#Cite this brief
#Cite this brief
Caselaw, "Mereka & Company Advocates v Nicola Farms Limited (Environment & Land Miscellaneous Case E065 of 2023) [2025] KEELC 4014 (KLR)", Case Analysis (2025). Not stated in excerpt. Source: https://new.kenyalaw.org/akn/ke/judgment/keelc/2025/4014/eng@2025-05-26
Suggested citation format for research notes or client memos. Always verify the original judgment before relying on any point.