Moses Segite v Kenya Flourspar Limited
The bottom line
#The Court of Appeal dismissed a former employee's appeal, confirming that winning an uncontested case still requires solid evidence and limiting second appeals to questions of law only.
What this practically means
#Executive summary
#Key legal issues
#Scope of the Court of Appeal's jurisdiction on a second appeal
The Court is confined to questions of law only and will not interfere with concurrent findings of fact absent perversity or consideration of extraneous matters.
Section 72(1) of the Civil Procedure Act restricts the Court's jurisdiction to matters of law. The Court noted that the appellant's grounds were essentially disagreements with factual findings and reductions of quantum, for which no legal error was demonstrated.
Whether the burden of proof shifts when the defendant does not call evidence
It does not. The plaintiff must adduce credible evidence capable of proving the claim on a balance of probabilities notwithstanding the defendant's silence.
Applying sections 107 and 109 of the Evidence Act and Charterhouse Bank Ltd v Frank N. Kamau, the Court held that failure by the defendant to testify does not lessen the plaintiff's burden; judgment cannot follow merely because evidence is unopposed.
Whether the learned Judge erred in setting aside the trial court's awards apart from severance pay
No error was established warranting interference with the first appellate court's re-evaluation of the evidence.
The Court found the appellant's complaints amounted to dissatisfaction with the reduction of his award. It was for the appellant to demonstrate that the Judge's conclusions were contrary to law or the weight of the evidence, which he failed to do.
Legal principles established
#- On a second appeal the Court of Appeal is confined to matters of law only, unless it is shown that the courts below considered matters they should not have considered, failed to consider matters they should have considered, or that the decision is perverse.
- The burden of proof on a plaintiff remains the same throughout the case and is not lessened where the case proceeds by formal proof or where the defendant does not call evidence; an uncontroverted claim must still be supported by credible evidence.
Court orders
#- 1.Appeal dismissed
- 2.Each party to bear its own costs
- On appeal from
- Employment and Labour Relations Court at Nairobi
- ELRC Appeal No. 2 of 2017
- Jurisdiction invoked
- Section 72(1) of the Civil Procedure Act - second appeal confined to matters of law
Key timeline
#Practical implications
#Frequently asked questions
#Later judgments citing this (1)
#Judgments in the corpus that rely on this one. Where the Court said how it treated the authority, that is shown.
- Jilo v Sala[2025] KECA 1194 (KLR)4 Jul 2025applied
Cite this brief
#Cite this brief
Caselaw, "Moses Segite v Kenya Flourspar Limited", Case Analysis (2021). Eldoret Civil Appeal No. 141 of 2017. Source: https://new.kenyalaw.org/akn/ke/judgment/keca/2021/1063/eng@2021-01-29
Suggested citation format for research notes or client memos. Always verify the original judgment before relying on any point.