Supreme Court of Zambia - 2001 June

20 judgments
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Results. 20 judgments found.

20 judgments
June 2001
Police liable for negligent shooting where officers failed to give adequate warning or mount a proper roadblock; appeal dismissed.
  • Tort — State liability for police shooting; negligence for failure to give adequate warning or mount proper roadblock; credibility of witnesses and appellate restraint on disturbing factual findings; Fatal Accidents Act claim.
27 June 2001
Appeal dismissed: trial findings that the applicant’s employee committed fraud and respondent not liable were upheld.
  • Civil evidence — credibility and findings of fact — appellate interference limited by Nkhata criteria; theft by employee and weight of documentary evidence; validity/weight of written admission; counter-claim based on admitted receipts and refunds.
27 June 2001
Employee wrongfully retired early but entitled only to ADS7 benefits calculated as at 31 December 1991.
  • Employment law — wrongful early retirement — collective agreements and applicable conditions of service — entitlement to promoted scale where no promotion occurred — interpretation of effective date for calculating terminal benefits — appeals on findings of fact (s.97 Industrial and Labour Relations Act).
27 June 2001
An employer cannot rely on contractual notice to conceal bad-faith terminations; Industrial Relations Court may award substantial compensation.
  • Employment law — unfair dismissal — restructuring and retrenchment — sham termination — contractual notice clauses — Industrial Relations Court may look behind notice to ascertain true reason — substantial justice and compensation for wrongful termination.
27 June 2001
Termination on notice was unlawful where employees cleared of allegations were dismissed without reasons or hearing; compensation upheld.
  • Employment law — unlawful dismissal — delving behind contractual notice — section 85(4) Industrial and Labour Relations Act — natural justice — compensation for wrongful termination — reinstatement discretionary.
27 June 2001
Appeal allowed: trial court wrongly revoked receiver, failed to decide counter-claim, and erred in ordering specific performance and manager appointment.
  • Companies Act s109 — Gazette publication of receiver appointment (Registrar's duty) — Effectiveness of receiver's appointment on acceptance — Jurisdictional use of originating summons in contentious matters — Specific performance to appoint manager — Counter-claim for repayment and damages.
27 June 2001
Whether a mortgagee bank was liable to pay estate-agent commission absent any agreement — appeal dismissed.
  • Agency — estate agent appointment — whether agency can be inferred from conduct; Contract — commission agreement — absence of agreement by mortgagee bank; Quantum meruit — when claim lies against third party holding sale proceeds.
26 June 2001
The slip rule cannot be used to reopen a final judgment; fraud allegations require a fresh original action.
  • Civil procedure — Slip rule (clerical correction) — limited to accidental slips or omissions; cannot be used to re-open or alter final judgments on merits. Finality of judgments — no rehearing or stay of execution once judgment entered. Fraud alleged to have procured a judgment — remedy is a fresh original action to set aside the judgment (Flower v Lloyd)
26 June 2001
Appeal dismissed: employer complied with disciplinary procedures and rules of natural justice; no evidence of coercion or misleading.
  • Employment law — Disciplinary procedure — Compliance with collective agreement and natural justice — Allegations of coercion and misleading by union officials — Burden of proof on challenge to disciplinary findings.
26 June 2001
Court overruled a technical objection, substituted 10% interest for an 18% dollar award, and ordered Kwacha payment converted at K2,675.05/USD for set‑off.
  • Civil procedure — preliminary objection — omission of leave order from record not fatal where order exists; Interest — appropriate rate for dollar‑denominated judgment; cannot apply Kwacha lending rates to US dollar debt; payment into court in Kwacha to be converted at rate on payment out and set off
25 June 2001
Commissioner's discretionary allocation of land was not procedurally improper or Wednesbury-unreasonable; appeal dismissed.
  • Administrative law — Judicial review — Procedural impropriety; Irrationality/Wednesbury unreasonableness; District council recommendations advisory; Discretion of Commissioner of Lands.
7 June 2001
Court reduced an excessive 25-year manslaughter sentence to 5 years, giving credit for a guilty plea and youth.
  • Criminal law — Manslaughter — Sentencing — Credit for guilty plea and remorse — Excessive sentence — Use of lethal weapon in drunken quarrel — Young offender.
5 June 2001
Appeal partially allowed: credibility findings upheld, but awarded commissions reduced to amounts proven by evidence.
  • Agency and privity — finder’s fee and transport commission — quantum must be proved; appellate review of credibility findings — reluctance to disturb trial judge absent serious error; award varied to amounts supported by evidence.
5 June 2001
Widow and adopted child entitled to intestate estate; appellate court reversed trial's perverse factual finding in dismissal case.
  • Intestate succession — entitlement of surviving spouse and dependent child where spouse alleged to have deserted; Employment law — unfair dismissal, weight and reading of investigative reports; appellate review of factual findings — perverse finding, absence of evidence, or misapprehension of facts.
5 June 2001
Registration of foreign arbitration award upheld but excessive interest set aside and replaced with rates compliant with public policy.
  • Arbitration law — Registration of foreign arbitration awards — Applicability of Orders 71 and 73 (foreign judgments) — Section 15 Arbitration Act — Grounds to set aside: misconduct or improperly procured — Public policy and enforceability — Excessive interest disallowed.
1 June 2001
Whether acting allowances, appraisal increments, or an unaccepted three‑year contract affect the applicant's terminal benefits.
  • Employment law — Terminal benefits — Acting allowance not included when acting <6 months; Performance appraisal increments payable only if actually paid; No contract formed without employer acceptance; Appellate restraint on factual findings.
1 June 2001
Damages for failed export of trophies limited to replacement value; additional replacement-safari and licence awards set aside as unjust enrichment.
  • Contract — failure to export goods; assumption of responsibility for export documentation (P5 forms) by carrier’s employee; measure of damages — replacement value of destroyed trophies; setting aside consequential replacement-safari and licence awards to avoid unjust enrichment; interest at 3% from writ date.
1 June 2001
Bank liquidations are governed by the Banking and Financial Services Act, not the Companies Act; appeal dismissed.
  • Banking law v Companies Act — Liquidation of banks governed by Banking and Financial Services Act (special statute) — Bank of Zambia supervisory and liquidation powers — Section 85 excludes Companies Act procedures for bank liquidation.
1 June 2001
Liquidation of a bank under central bank compulsory winding-up falls under the Banking and Financial Services Act, not the Companies Act.
  • Banking law — liquidation of banks — applicability of Companies Act — special liquidation regime under Banking and Financial Services Act (Chapter 7) — Section 85 excludes Companies Act — central bank supervisory and reporting role.
1 June 2001
The court held the deferred 15% was payable only after 1 October 1994; retirees who left earlier were entitled only to the 25% increase.
  • Collective agreement interpretation — meaning of "overall" increase — staged implementation; entitlement of retirees to deferred pay; retirement notice — abridgement by mutual agreement; oral assurances cannot vary written collective agreement; awards set aside.
1 June 2001