Gervasio Muriira & 8 others v Mutheka Farmers Co-Op Society Limited [2020] KEELRC 62 (KLR)
The bottom line
#A Kenyan employment court awarded workers over Kshs. 179,000 in unpaid decree interest but denied their legal costs because of delays and an unqualified bill.
What this practically means
#Executive summary
#Key legal issues
#Applicable rate of interest where the decree is silent
The statutory default of 6% per annum under Section 26(2) applies, but the Respondent's concession of 12% was adopted, yielding Kshs. 179,533.21 total interest due
The Civil Procedure Act provides a default rate of 6% where the decree is silent on interest. The Claimants computed interest at 14% and the Respondent at 12%. The court held that since it would itself only have awarded 6%, and the Respondent generously conceded 12%, the higher conceded rate would be applied. This fixed the total sums payable to the Claimants per the Respondent's tabulation.
Entitlement to costs of the motion
Costs were denied to the Claimants because the bill was drawn by a person not qualified to charge legal fees and because of their dilatoriness
The Respondent objected that costs claimed were drawn by a person not entitled to or qualified for legal fees, citing Orix Oil (Kenya) Limited v Paul Kabeu on denial of costs to a successful party in appropriate circumstances. The court found the Claimants were responsible for delay in concluding the matter and thus should not benefit from their own dilatoriness, and denied costs of the motion.
Legal principles established
#- Where a decree is silent on further interest from the date of decree to payment, interest at 6% per annum applies under Section 26(2) of the Civil Procedure Act, but a party's concession of a higher rate will be adopted by the court
- Costs may be denied to a successful party whose conduct, such as delay, disentitles them, or where costs are drawn by a person unqualified to charge legal fees
Court orders
#- 1.The Respondent is to pay the sums due of Kshs. 179,533.21 in interest, apportioned per claimant (1st Claimant Kshs. 25,157.80; 2nd Kshs. 23,292.32; 3rd Kshs. 23,935.64; 4th Kshs. 18,437.49; 5th Kshs. 18,429.56; 6th Kshs. 26,145.61; 7th Kshs. 24,568.63; 9th Kshs. 19,566.56) within the next 30 days
- 2.In default of payment within 30 days, the Claimants are at liberty to execute
- 3.Costs of the motion are denied to the Claimants
- Jurisdiction invoked
- Original jurisdiction of the Employment and Labour Relations Court over rendering of accounts arising from its own decree (the underlying decree of this Court)
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.
- Owuor v Sameer Agriculture and Livestock Limited (Cause 1442 of 2015) [2022] KEELRC 1421 (KLR)[2022] KEELRC 1421 (KLR)13 May 2022
Cite this brief
#Cite this brief
Caselaw, "Gervasio Muriira & 8 others v Mutheka Farmers Co-Op Society Limited [2020] KEELRC 62 (KLR)", Case Analysis (2020). . Source: https://new.kenyalaw.org/akn/ke/judgment/keelrc/2020/62/eng@2020-09-30
Suggested citation format for research notes or client memos. Always verify the original judgment before relying on any point.