High Court cases to end in less than a year under new rules

The High Court will now be expected to clear all cases within one year of filing under new rules meant to help prevent backlog and save litigants legal fees.

The rules gazetted last week direct the High Court’s Principal Judge to take steps to ensure that cases are concluded in 12 months.

Currently cases can drag on for years due to multiple adjournments putting a heavy cost on litigants in lawyer fees and lost opportunities for assets and businesses that are tied up in the suits.

“The Principal Judge shall establish measures to ensure that matters are disposed of within twelve months from the date the Court first sets the matter down for hearing,” the High Court (Organisation and Administration) rules state.

Cases involving businesses have a cost element and can result in huge losses if delayed for too long.

Chinese developer Avic International, for example, recently claimed it has lost Sh1.8 billion in construction delays arising from a battle with Villa Rosa Kempinski hotel, which is opposed to the planned construction of a rival 43-storey facility in an adjacent plot.

READ: Chinese developer says it lost Sh2bn in war with Kempinski

The delay was for 93 days, highlighting the huge cost that would be involved if the project was delayed for years.

In another case, Swiss oil manufacturer Oryx Energies last year sued Mastermind Tobacco for Sh465 million that it allegedly lost when the construction of its Syokimau plant was halted during a land tussle between the two firms.

Cases that drag on for years also attract huge payments in lost opportunity costs that the losing party usually has to pay.

The government has on multiple occasions been forced to pay billions of shillings in cases where the initial amount was small but the suit dragged on for decades and the amounts owed gained interest.

The fresh rules are also likely to touch on corruption cases which usually drag on in courts for years due to frequent adjournments. The Principal Judge will now be expected to ensure a judge limits the number of adjournments after a matter has been set down for hearing.

He or she will also be expected to equitably distribute the cases to ensure each judge shoulders a manageable case load.

Other changes that will be introduced to ensure faster resolution of cases include the listing only of cases where the parties are ready and witnesses available for that day.

The High Court will also allow the filing and exchange by the parties of written submissions to supplement or replace oral arguments.

Judiciary data shows that in the year to June 2015, the High Court saw a total of 38,817 cases filed and 49,409 cleared as the judges clawed at the backlog.

The High Court, however, had 155,203 cases pending as a legacy of the previous era when cases took a long time to resolve.