A plea by four advocates to strike out a suit filed against them has been dismissed.
The advocates had sought to have the suit, brought against them by Rings View Apartments Limited, removed from proceedings on the grounds that it lacked a reasonable cause of action.
The suit stemmed from allegations by the plaintiff, who claimed breach of confidentiality and conflict of interest on the part of the advocates.
Rings View Apartment Limited who are the registered proprietor of the suit property in Kileleshwa, took up a mortgage from KCB Bank Kenya Limited to facilitate constructions of apartments for Sh90 million.
The mortgage facility was then secured by a charge dated October 31, 2018 over several apartments, with the firm of Igeria & Ngugi Advocate preparing the charge instrument.
They alleged that the advocates who were the parties’ advocates in the mortgage transaction were guilty of conflict of interest as well as breach and abuse of advocate/client privilege and that they disclosed confidential banking information to unauthorized third parties, which greatly jeopardized company’s ability to meet its obligations to the bank.
Justice David Majanja in his ruling dated April 24, found the advocates’ application devoid of merit and ordered them to proceed with their defense filling within 14 days from the day of the ruling.
“… In the circumstances, I find that the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th defendants’ application dated July 7, 2023 is devoid of merit. It is dismissed with costs to the plaintiff. The defendants shall file their defense within 14 days from the date hereof,” ruled Majanja
Majanja further noted that the plaintiff’s allegations of breach of confidentiality by the advocates, constituted a valid cause of action.
“The thrust of the plaintiff’s case is that the advocates breached this relationship by disclosing confidential information to third parties. Without more, this constitutes a valid cause of action.”
The company alleged that on or about July 7, 2021, the bank violated the confidential nature of their relationship by holding a meeting with unauthorized third parties unknown to it.
Furthermore, they said “the bank shared and gave copies of the company’s confidential banking information and documents to third parties to facilitate the filing of a lawsuit against it and that affidavits had been sworn in the said suit acknowledging that various banking documents of the company were provided by the bank.”
The plaintiff alleged they suffered damage and costs defending the suit on account of the breach of confidentiality and the bank’s illegal, unlawful, and unauthorized disclosure of confidential banking information.
The said third parties obtained an injunction restraining the plaintiff from dealing with the suit property.
The advocates argued that the suit lacked a reasonable cause of action against them.
They denied having knowledge of the alleged sharing of confidential information and contended that the plaintiff failed to specify the third parties involved, thus rendering the accusation baseless.
Additionally, they alleged that the plaintiff lacked legal standings to make claims on behalf of the bank.
The advocates, further argued that “the plaint as dawn made it impossible for them to file a substantive defence as they are strangers to the issues raised therein and cannot establish a basis for the same from the documents filed in alleged support of the claim.
“Unless the advocates are struck pout of the suit, they are likey to suffer irreparable damage by being forced to defend a suit in which there is no cause of action against them,” argued the defendants.
In the application, KCB Bank Kenya Limited, Arthur Igeria, Benson Ngugi, David Njoroge and Jillian Ndirangu have been sued.
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