Case ID:184508

Amondi & Co Advocates v County Government of Kisumu [2021] eKLR

Case Metadata

Case Number:

Miscellaneous Civil Application 142 of 2020

Parties:

Amondi & Co Advocates v County Government of Kisumu

Date Delivered:

19 Oct 2021

Case Class:

Civil

Court:

High Court at Kisumu

Case Action:

Ruling

Judge(s):

Fred Andago Ochieng

Citation:

Amondi & Co Advocates v County Government of Kisumu [2021] eKLR

Court Division:

Civil

County:

Kisumu

Case Outcome:

Application allowed

Disclaimer:

The information contained in the above segment is not part of the judicial opinion delivered by the Court. The metadata has been prepared by Kenya Law as a guide in understanding the subject of the judicial opinion. Kenya Law makes no warranties as to the comprehensiveness or accuracy of the information

REPUBLIC OF KENYA

IN THE HIGH COURT OF KENYA

AT KISUMU

MISC. CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 142 OF 2020

AMONDI & CO. ADVOCATES.................ADVOCATE/APPLICANT

-VERSUS-

COUNTY GOVERNMENT OF KISUMU....CLIENT/RESPONDENT

RULING

The application dated 24

th

May 2021 was brought pursuant to

Section 51 (2)

of the

Advocates Act

.

1. The application is premised upon a Certificate of Costs which was issued after the Advocate/Client Bill of Costs was taxed. Through the said application, the advocates prayed for Judgment to be granted in their favour, in terms of the taxed costs.

2. The advocates also prayed for interest to be awarded from the date of filing of the bill of taxation on 20

th

July 2020.

3. When canvassing the application, the Applicant noted that their Bill of Costs was served upon the Respondent on 21

st

July 2020.

4. Nonetheless, the advocates went ahead to assert, in their submissions, that they were entitled to interest at 14% per annum from the date when the Client gave them instructions.

5. In a nutshell, the Applicant does not appear to be clear about what their claim for interest is based upon. They appear to have 3 options, regarding the date from when the interest was claimable by them, namely;

a. the date when the bill was filed for

taxation;

b. the date when the bill was delivered

to the client; and

c. the date from when the client gave

instructions to the advocates.

6. However, the advocate did not cite any statutory provision to support any of the 3 options.

7. In my considered view, the provisions of

Rule 7

of the

Advocates Remuneration Order

should guide the court when it is called upon to determine the question regarding interest that should be payable on the taxed costs.

8. Rule 7

stipulates thus;

“An advocate may charge interest at 14% per annum on his

disbursements and costs whether by scale or otherwise, from the expiration of one month from the delivery of his bill to the client, provided that such claim for interest is raised before the amount of the bill has been paid or tendered in full.”

9. The Client has submitted that the court should be guided by

Section 26

of the

Civil Procedure Act

, which gives to the Court the discretion to award interest at such rate as the court deems reasonable.

10. Section 26

provides that the court may award interest on the principal sum adjudged from the date of the suit to the date of the decree, in addition to any interest adjudged on such principle sum for any period before the institution of the suit. Thirdly, the court had discretion to award further interest on the aggregate sum so adjudged, from the date of the decree to the date of payment or to such earlier date as the court may think is just.

11. In general terms,

Section 26

provides guidance to the court on how to determine the interest which is most appropriate in a decree for the payment of money.

12. However, when there is a specific provision in the

Advocates Act

, that addresses interest that is payable on the advocate’s bill, I find that the Court should use the said provision rather than

Section 26

of the

Civil Procedure Act

.

13. In the event, interest herein will be payable from 28

th

December 2020, which is a date immediately after the expiry of one month from the date when the taxing officer delivered her ruling on taxation. During the said date, both parties were present in court, and therefore the client became aware of the quantum it was obliged to pay to the advocate.

14. I now enter Judgment in favour of the Applicant for the sum of Kshs 16,660/= with interest thereon at 14% per annum from 28

th

December 2020 until payment in full.

15. The Respondent will pay to the Applicant the costs of the application dated 24

th

May 2021.

DATED, SIGNED AND DELIVERED AT KISUMU

THIS 19

TH

DAY OF OCTOBER, 2021

FRED A. OCHIENG

JUDGE