Patrick Wafula Kuloba v Director/Chief Executive Officer, Kenya Industrial Research & Development Institute (Cause E377 of 2020) (Employment and Labour) [2021] KEELRC 1223 (KLR)
The bottom line
#Kenya's ELRC stopped taxation of a bill of costs pending appeal, showing courts will pause cost proceedings that an appeal could render pointless.
What this practically means
#Executive summary
#Key legal issues
#Stay of taxation proceedings pending appeal
The application for stay of taxation pending appeal was merited and granted, as the outcome of the appeal could render taxation redundant or require its repetition.
The court noted that an appeal does not operate as a stay and that the conditions in Order 42 Rule 6 (substantial loss, timely application, security) govern stay applications. Here, the applicant sought only a stay of taxation, not of the judgment itself. Because the pending appeal could either discharge the applicant from liability for costs or add to it, proceeding with taxation risked the exercise becoming redundant or having to be repeated. Balancing these considerations, the court found it judicially sensible to stay taxation until the appeal is determined, with application costs abiding the appeal's outcome.
Legal principles established
#- An appeal does not operate as an automatic stay; a party wishing to stay execution must apply for stay, which is discretionary subject to substantial loss, timeliness and security.
- Where an appeal may affect liability for costs, it is judicially sensible to stay taxation to avoid duplicative or redundant proceedings.
Court orders
#- 1.Stay of taxation of the Bill of Costs filed by the Claimant/Decree Holder pending determination of Civil Appeal No. E172 of 2020
- 2.Costs of the application to abide the outcome of the appeal
- On appeal from
- null
- null
- Jurisdiction invoked
- Order 42 Rule 6(2) of the Civil Procedure Rules; Article 159(2)(d) and Article 48 of the Constitution
Key timeline
#Practical implications
#Frequently asked questions
#Cite this brief
#Cite this brief
Caselaw, "Patrick Wafula Kuloba v Director/Chief Executive Officer, Kenya Industrial Research & Development Institute (Cause E377 of 2020) (Employment and Labour) [2021] KEELRC 1223 (KLR)", Case Analysis (2021). Nairobi Civil Appeal No. E172 of 2021 (stay application in ELRC suit). Source: https://new.kenyalaw.org/akn/ke/judgment/keelrc/2021/1223/eng@2021-07-16
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