Matunda & 2 others (Suing as the Registered Trustees/ Officials of Christian Faith Church (Previously) Christian Faith Ministries)) v Mwenje & another (Environment and Land Case E115 of 2025) [2026] KEELC 2481 (KLR)

Applying Section 7 of the Civil Procedure Act and the elements restated in John Florence Maritime Services, the court held that identity of subject matter alone cannot sustain res judicata. The Plaintiffs, as registered lessees protecting proprietary rights, were neither parties to nor shown to litigate under the same title as the Tena Residents Association members, and the causes of action - private leasehold protection versus enforcement of public utility status - were not identical.

The court accepted that it could not finally determine title legality at interlocutory stage. On the material presented - a Certificate of Lease, allotment letter, payment receipts, official search, photographs of construction and protest correspondence - the Plaintiffs showed an apparently infringed right calling for rebuttal, satisfying the Mrao definition of a prima facie case with a probability of success.

Relying on Nguruman Limited v Jan Bonde Nielsen, the court noted that the applicant bears the burden of demonstrating actual, substantial injury not compensable by damages. The Plaintiffs' apprehension that permanent structures would irreversibly alter the land was held not baseless; continued construction could destroy the substratum of the dispute and render any final judgment ineffective.

Weighing the hardship of refusing the injunction against the hardship of granting it, the court found that preserving the property pending trial was the more convenient course, completing the three Giella limbs and justifying the temporary injunction.