Judge Cyprian Mkeha ruled in favour of the mobile service provider company, the plaintiff, after granting a default judgment after
He said that it was not disputed that service was affected to the defendant by way of publication of a summons to file a written statement of defence through newspapers when the first attempt to effect service proved futile. "To date, a written statement of defence has not been filed.
Therefore, conditions for granting a default judgment are in existence. For the reasons hereinabove, default judgment is entered in favour of the plaintiff," the judge said.
Default judgment is a binding judgment in favor of either party based on some failure to take action by the other party.
Most often, it is a judgment in favor of a plaintiff when the defendant has not responded to a summons or has failed to appear before a court of law. In terms of the pleadings, he noted, it appeared the plaintiff's claim against the defendant arises from an agreement signed by the parties on
According to him, under the agreement, the plaintiff had to provide bulk SMS Services to the defendant in accordance with the terms and conditions of the agreement and it appeared the plaintiff provided the agreed services to the defendant.
"But, when the plaintiff issued various invoices worth 393,569,120/- covering a period between
Pleadings indicate that on
Despite the plaintiff's demand and followup, the defendant failed to pay the invoiced amount which stood at 315,569,120/- when the case was instituted before the court.
When the case was registered, the court ordered a summons to file a written statement of defence to be served upon the defendant.
On
Afterwards, a prayer for substituted service by way of publication was made by the advocate and granted by the court. By way of publication, through the newspapers, the defendant was again ordered to file defence.
According to the advocate for the plaintiff, up to
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