High Court of Zambia - 2012 December

7 judgments
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Results. 7 judgments found.

7 judgments
December 2012
An association’s Saturday meetings do not violate the applicant’s conscience or equal protection absent positive coercive or discriminatory action.
  • Constitutional law — Freedom of conscience (Article 19) — “Hindered” requires positive or threatened act; Discrimination (Article 23) — requires comparative evidence of different treatment by creed; Article 28 — locus for redress requires executive/administrative action in relation to complainant; Meetings on Saturdays — indirect inconvenience is insufficient absent coercion or sanction
30 December 2012
Whether alleged unreasonable behaviour under s9(1)(b) establishes irretrievable breakdown where parties still cohabit and maintain intimacy.
  • Matrimonial Causes Act ss 8 & 9(1)(b) — irretrievable breakdown — ‘behaviour’ as conduct affecting the other spouse — objective test applied to the particular petitioner — cumulative conduct — cohabitation and continued sexual relations do not automatically bar divorce
13 December 2012
Acquittal alone does not establish malicious prosecution; plaintiffs failed to prove lack of reasonable grounds or malice.
  • Tort — Malicious prosecution — Elements: prosecution, favourable termination, absence of reasonable and probable cause, malice — Acquittal not conclusive — Pleadings bind parties; new claims cannot be raised at submissions
13 December 2012
A practitioner acting against a former client and contacting a represented party must withdraw for conflict of interest.
  • Legal practitioners’ conduct — conflict of interest — rule 33(1)(f) and (g) — duty of confidentiality — prohibition on communicating with a represented person (rule 37(3)) — removal from record — pending judicial review not a defense
13 December 2012
Driver’s excessive speed and inadequate vehicle maintenance rendered the carrier vicariously liable; damages to be assessed, insurer credit acknowledged.
  • Negligence — duty of carriers to maintain vehicles and inspect tyres — res ipsa loquitur where defendants give no explanation — inevitable accident defence — vicarious liability of carrier — insurer payment credited but does not bar further claim
13 December 2012
Court removed a caveat after the respondent failed to justify an interest; compensation claim dismissed for lack of evidence.
  • Lands and Deeds Registry Act (ss.76, 81, 82) — Removal of caveat — Ex parte proceedings where caveator absent — Burden on caveator to disclose interest — Compensation for malicious caveator requires proof of lack of reasonable cause and damage.
12 December 2012
An employer validly summarily dismissed an employee for prolonged unexplained absence and recovered erroneously paid wages.
  • Employment law — summary dismissal for absenteeism — collective agreement permitting dismissal in absentia — requirement to produce medical certificate for sick leave — recovery of wages and benefits erroneously paid
3 December 2012