High Court of Zambia - 2014 March

15 judgments
Skip past Court registries
Skip past years
Skip past months
Skip to results

Results. 15 judgments found.

15 judgments
March 2014
Unopposed summary judgment granted for outstanding overdraft with interest and liberty to foreclose mortgaged property after 30 days.
  • [Civil procedure] Order 30 Rule 14 — summary judgment on affidavit evidence; [Security] third-party mortgage enforcement; Overdraft default; Contractual compounded interest; Unopposed application; 30-day moratorium; Liberty to foreclose and sell property; Costs taxed
26 March 2014
A caveat by an intending purchaser was removed after twenty years' inaction and failure to show cause, enabling estate administration.
  • Lands and Deeds Registry Act ss.76,81 — Caveat by intending purchaser — Caveat interim and prevents dealing with title — Administrator entitled to summon caveator — Prolonged inaction and failure to show cause justifies removal — Service by advertisement
25 March 2014
Applicant awarded K75,400; equitable mortgage enforced with 30‑day moratorium before foreclosure and costs to applicant.
  • Loan recovery; equitable third‑party mortgage; substituted service; interest orders; moratorium and foreclosure powers; costs
24 March 2014
Where an administrator disposed of one house, the remaining house devolves on the children jointly; future rents split equally from a set date.
  • Intestate succession — Property forming part of intestate estate — Children’s rights where estate includes more than one house — Section 9(2) Intestate Succession Act — Administrator’s duty and requirement of court authority for sale (section 19(2)) — Beneficiary’s entitlement to joint title — Rent sharing prospective, not retrospective
23 March 2014
Invoice and purchase order proved the agreed haulage sum; plaintiff awarded outstanding balance, interest and costs.
  • Contract evidence — haulage services — invoice and purchase order as proof of agreed price — calculation of outstanding balance after conceded payments and deductions — award of interest and costs
23 March 2014
Accused acquitted where identification was unreliable, phone-link unproven and police failed to produce phone records.
  • Criminal law — Aggravated robbery — Identification evidence — Dock identification versus identification parade — Possession of alleged stolen property — Inferences from possession — Duty of police to investigate and produce phone subscriber records — Burden of proof beyond reasonable doubt
23 March 2014
Applications for particulars and an account dismissed where judgment on admission was already entered and no claim for an account was pleaded.
  • Civil procedure — further and better particulars are a pre-trial remedy; taking of account under Order 43 requires writ indorsed for account or counterclaim; applications after judgment on admission inappropriate
17 March 2014
Court allowed recovery of principal but refused unsupported contractual compound interest, awarding regulated Bank of Zambia rates and foreclosure rights.
  • Mortgage enforcement; admissibility and legality of claimed interest rates; requirement to prove status as moneylender/financial institution; court's equitable jurisdiction to deny usurious or unsupported interest
16 March 2014
Failure to traverse pleaded allegations and to produce proof of payment led to judgment for the plaintiff for unpaid security-service invoices with interest and costs.
  • Contract law — debt for services rendered — invoices as prima facie proof of debt; Civil procedure — sufficiency of Defence — Order L111 Rule 6 (failure to traverse allegations deemed admission); Non-compliance with directions and absence of proof of payment; Interest from commencement and costs awarded to successful plaintiff
12 March 2014
Plaintiff proved a K35,000,000 repair contract and recovery of that sum; claims for tool replacement and lost business were dismissed.
  • Contract law — existence and proof of an oral agreement for repair services; evidentiary effect of defendant's deficient Defence and non-participation; failure to prove special damages (tools replacement and loss of business); interest and costs on judgment
10 March 2014
Appellate court affirmed conviction and sentence: corroboration and mandatory public-analyst/testimony requirements were not required by law.
  • Criminal law — Possession of narcotics — Circumstantial evidence and corroboration — Public analyst testimony under s.192 Criminal Procedure Code — Directory nature of s.26(1) Narcotic Drugs Act — Admissibility of undercover agent evidence (Rule 7(4)) — Appeal court’s restraint on interfering with trial court factual findings
9 March 2014
Trial court erred by acquitting at no-case stage after improperly assessing credibility; retrial ordered.
  • Criminal procedure — No-case-to-answer — Prima facie case under section 206 Criminal Procedure Code — Improper credibility findings and drawing of inferences at no-case stage — Retrial ordered
9 March 2014
Appellant's presence, direction and conduct established common intention and identity despite no fingerprints; appeal dismissed.
  • Criminal law — malicious damage and assault — aiding and abetting (s.21(1)(b)) and common intention (s.22) — identification — failure to uplift fingerprints; presumption rebuttable by overwhelming evidence
9 March 2014
Whether the vendor lacked capacity to sell; court upheld the plaintiff's title and made the injunction permanent.
  • Property law — contract of sale — validity of sale — mental capacity to contract — burden on party alleging incapacity; consideration adequacy — not a ground absent fraud; commercial jurisdiction — non-commercial damages not for commercial list; interlocutory injunction made permanent
3 March 2014
Delivery notes with a handwritten 180‑day term formed the contract; buyer liable for outstanding price; counterclaim dismissed.
  • Contract law — delivery notes as written contract terms — handwritten payment term (180 days) — specific goods; property passes on contract; claim for purchase price; counterclaim for loss of business dismissed for lack of evidence
2 March 2014