ChinaRroad and Bridge Corporation v Nyamu (Appeal 1 of 2021) [2024] KEELRC 2589 (KLR)
The bottom line
#Kenya's Employment and Labour Relations Court cut a worker's Kshs.600,000 injury award to Kshs.300,000, finding the original damages excessive for soft tissue injuries.
What this practically means
#Executive summary
#Key legal issues
#Whether the award of Kshs.600,000/- as general damages for multiple soft tissue injuries was inordinately high and liable to be interfered with on appeal
The award was inordinately high and was reduced to Kshs.300,000/-, based on comparable awards for similar injuries
The court applied the settled principles that an appellate court interferes with quantum only where the trial court misdirected itself or the award is an entirely erroneous estimate. Noting that the Appellant's authorities were fairly old while the Respondent's authorities concerned more severe injuries, the court found guidance in Francis Ochieng & Another v Alice Kajimba (2015) eKLR, where an award for multiple soft tissue injuries was reduced from Kshs.500,000/- to Kshs.350,000/-. Balancing these considerations, the court concluded Kshs.600,000/- was inordinately high and substituted an award of Kshs.300,000/-.
The duty of a first appellate court in re-evaluating evidence
Being a first appeal, the court has a duty to re-evaluate the entire case and come up with its own findings, while bearing in mind it neither saw nor heard the witnesses
Relying on the classic statement in Selle v Assorted Motor Boat Company (1968) EA 123, the court restated that a first appellate court must reconsider and evaluate the evidence and draw its own conclusions, making due allowance for the fact that it has neither seen nor heard the witnesses, and is not bound necessarily to follow the trial judge's findings of fact.
Legal principles established
#- An appellate court will only interfere with an award of general damages where the trial court took into account irrelevant factors, failed to take into account relevant factors, or where the quantum is inordinately low or high as to amount to an erroneous estimate
- On a first appeal, the court has a duty to re-evaluate the entire evidence and come up with its own findings, while making allowance for the fact that it did not see or hear the witnesses
- Comparable injuries should, as far as possible, be compensated by comparable awards keeping in mind the correct level of awards in similar cases
Court orders
#- 1.The appeal is allowed to the extent that the award of general damages is found inordinately high
- 2.The award of Kshs.600,000/- for general damages is set aside and substituted with an award of Kshs.300,000/-
- 3.The rest of the judgment of the subordinate Court is undisturbed
- 4.The costs of the appeal shall be borne by each party while the order for costs in the lower Court shall remain undisturbed
- On appeal from
- Senior Principal Magistrate's Court at Mavoko
- Mavoko PMCC No. 1140 of 2016
- Jurisdiction invoked
- First appeal transferred by direction from the Civil Division of the High Court at Machakos (High Court Civil Appeal No. 154 of 2017) to this court; no specific constitutional or statutory provision is cited in the judgment
Key timeline
#Practical implications
#Frequently asked questions
#Cite this brief
#Cite this brief
Caselaw, "ChinaRroad and Bridge Corporation v Nyamu (Appeal 1 of 2021) [2024] KEELRC 2589 (KLR)", Case Analysis (2024). Appeal from Mavoko PMCC No. 1140 of 2016 (originally filed as High Court Civil Appeal No. 154 of 2017 at Machakos). Source: https://new.kenyalaw.org/akn/ke/judgment/keelrc/2024/2589/eng@2024-10-24
Suggested citation format for research notes or client memos. Always verify the original judgment before relying on any point.