Luxury Suttles Tours & Travel Ltd & another v Njoroge & another (Civil Application E148 of 2025) [2026] KECA 206 (KLR) (6 February 2026) (Ruling)

Facts

In 2020, Benson Kinuthia Wanja died in a traffic accident involving a vehicle owned by Luxury Suttles Tours & Travel Ltd and driven by Charles Mwiti Kinyua. The respondents, as administrators of the deceased's estate, filed a suit for compensation in the Senior Principal Magistrate's Court at Wang'uru. The trial court awarded the respondents Kshs. 4,440,627.00, and the applicants did not appeal this judgment. The applicants then filed a declaratory suit against their insurers, Invesco Assurance Co. Ltd., seeking to compel the insurers to settle the decree. The trial court stayed execution of the decree, finding that the applicants were liable to pay the balance of the decree.

Issues

1. Whether a judgment debtor who holds a valid insurance cover is liable to settle the decree when the insurer is under statutory management.
2. Whether the High Court erred by failing to apply the statutory cap of Kshs 3,000,000.00 under the Act.
3. Whether the applicants' rights under Articles 48 and 50 of the Constitution were infringed.

Reasoning

The Court of Appeal ruled that the applicants had not appealed against the judgment and that the trial court's order was not erroneous. The Court also noted that the applicants' declaratory suit did not take away their liability to the respondents.

Outcome

Application dismissed

Authorities cited