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The Commercial Case Law Index is a collection of judgments from African countries on topics relating to commercial legal practice. The collection aims to provide a snapshot of commercial legal practice in a country, rather than present solely traditionally "reportable" cases. The index currently covers 400 judgments from Uganda, Tanzania, Nigeria, Ghana and South Africa.
Get started on finding judgments that are relevant to you by browsing the topic list on the left of the screen. Click the arrows next to the topic names to reveal a detailed list of sub-topics. Most judgments are accompanied by a short summary written by subject-matter expert postgraduate students from the University of Cape Town.
Ecobank Nigeria Limited v Anchorage Leisures Limited and Others (CA/L/65/2016)[2016] NGCA 77 (30 March 2016) (CA/L/65/2016) [2016] NGCA 77 (29 March 2016); 
CL Index Contempt of Court Orders Civil Procedure Strike-Out Civil RemediesThe dispute emanated from an agreement between the appellant and the respondents to clear a debt owed to the appellant by the respondents. The agreement provided for reduction of the debt on the grounds that the respondents pay an initial payment of 500 million and the balance before the exit of Central Bank examiners who had who had come to inspect the appellant bank. After payment of all debt, the appellant required the respondents to pay R5.5 billion alleging that it did not pay the balance as agreed.
The respondents approached the court and an order that parties should maintain status quo until the matter was resolved was granted. The appellant then filed a petition to wind up the respondents which prompted the respondents to approach the court seeking a committal order arguing that the appellant was in contempt of court. This was opposed by a preliminary objection seeking to strike out the committal order. The court granted the objection while pointing out that it had no jurisdiction to decide on the matter.
The appellant appealed the decision to strike out citing lack of jurisdiction of the trial judge and that the judge did not consider all issues raised by appellants and that it should have dismissed not strike out the committal order.
The held that the trial judge correctly dealt with the issue and that since he had no jurisdiction, it was not necessary for him to consider issues regarding the merits of the case and dismissed the appeal.
Shmuel Hirshberg Muli v Aharon Li-Ran & 3 Ors ([node:field-casenumber]) [2017] UGCOMMC 140 (30 June 2017); CL Index Transfer of Shares Shares Company Law Contempt of Court Orders Civil ProcedureThe applicant sought a declaratory order stating that the first respondent was in contempt of a court order which restricted him from transferring, alienating and or disposing of the 60% shareholding in the third respondent company.
The court considered whether the first respondent was in contempt of court. It was held that the first respondent was indeed in contempt of an order issued by the same court in 2015.
When the first respondent argued that the transfer of shared occurred in 1997, the court examined the third respondent company’s annual returns from 2008 to 2015 which reflected share ownership to belong to two entities; Tanwood Ltd and Garwood Ltd. At the time neither Busa Ltd nor Queen Foreign Ltd appeared as shareholders. The court also examined a company search that was conducted in 2016 which reflected a change in shareholding; Queen Foreign Ltd was a majority shareholder. The court accepted the above as prima facie proof of contempt of court. The court relied on previous judgments that outlined the conditions that have to be met in order to legally prove that contempt of court occurred; it was held that all conditions were met.
As a result of contempt, the court disregarded the purported transfer of shares in the third respondent company and stated that the power of attorney had no effect whatsoever. The court awarded costs to the applicant. No fine was imposed.