Fave Gas Oil K Ltd v Meru County Investment & Development Corporation & another (Environment and Land Case E007 of 2026) [2026] KEELC 3805 (KLR)
The bottom line
#Kenya's Environment and Land Court denied defendants costs of a withdrawn lease suit because they never served their filed documents.
What this practically means
#Executive summary
#Questions the Court framed
#The issues the Court set itself to decide, in its own words.
- 1.Whether the defendants are entitled to an award of costs of the suit withdrawn by the plaintiff
Key legal issues
#Whether the defendants were entitled to costs of a suit withdrawn without notice
The defendants were not entitled to costs because they failed to serve their memorandum of appearance and preliminary objection on the plaintiff; costs were refused despite the general principle that costs follow the event
Section 27 of the Civil Procedure Act makes costs discretionary and provides that costs follow the event unless the court for good reason otherwise orders. Here the defendants filed a preliminary objection without being on record and filed a memorandum of appearance only on the morning of the withdrawal, and never served either document. The preliminary objection was a nullity filed by a stranger to the record. The court exercised its discretion to deny costs for these reasons.
Whether the unfiled/unsworn alleged affidavit of the defendants dated 15/6/2026 was before the court
The court noted that no affidavit dated 15/6/2026 was reflected in the Case Tracking System and therefore only the plaintiff's affidavit was considered
Counsel for the defendants claimed in oral submissions that they had filed an affidavit dated 15/6/2026, but the court verified the Case Tracking System and found no such affidavit on record. The ruling on costs therefore proceeded on the plaintiff's affidavit alone and the defendants' rival submissions.
Legal principles established
#- A party who fails to serve documents they rely on to claim costs denies themselves the entitlement to costs
- A preliminary objection filed by counsel not on record, without a notice of appointment or memorandum of appearance, is incompetent and cannot found an award of costs
Court orders
#- 1.Suit marked "Withdrawn with no order as to costs"
The bench
#One judgment of the whole court — no separate or dissenting opinions.
Wrote the judgment
- Jurisdiction invoked
- Original civil jurisdiction of the Environment and Land Court over a lease/land dispute; no specific constitutional or statutory provision cited as the basis of jurisdiction
Relief refused
#Defendants' claim for costs of the withdrawn suit
The defendants filed their only two documents (preliminary objection and memorandum of appearance) but never served them on the plaintiff, denying themselves an entitlement to costs
Costs
No order as to costs - suit marked "Withdrawn with no order as to costs"
Quotable passages
#Verbatim from the judgment, each located to the page it appears on in the official PDF — so these can be cited and checked directly.
The result is that this suit is marked "Withdrawn with no order as to costs".
the court takes the view that the defendants denied themselves the entitlement to costs by failing to serve their filed documents [memorandum of appearance and preliminary objection].
It was a document that had been filed by an advocate who was not on record at the time; it was filed by a stranger.
costs follow the event unless the court or judge shall for good reason otherwise order.
Issues in the judgment
#Internal date inconsistency: the mention before withdrawal is recorded as 12/5/2025 in one paragraph and 12/5/2026 elsewhere
Plaint describes the parcel as relating to PDP/167/2016/01 while the lease is dated 25/2/2021; the description is as recorded and unverified within the judgment
Key timeline
#Practical implications
#Frequently asked questions
#Cite this brief
#Cite this brief
Caselaw, "Fave Gas Oil K Ltd v Meru County Investment & Development Corporation & another (Environment and Land Case E007 of 2026) [2026] KEELC 3805 (KLR)", Case Analysis (2026). Not stated in judgment (plaint dated 24/2/2026). Source: https://new.kenyalaw.org/akn/ke/judgment/keelc/2026/3805/eng@2026-06-18
Suggested citation format for research notes or client memos. Always verify the original judgment before relying on any point.