Motion to set aside judgment in Kenya

Inlaw, amotion to set aside judgmentis an application to overturn or set aside acourt'sjudgment,verdictor other final ruling in a case. Such amotionis proposed by a party who is dissatisfied with the end result of acase. Motions may be made at any time after entry of judgment, and in some circumstances years after the case has been closed by the courts. Generally the motion cannot be based on grounds which were previously considered when deciding a motion for new trial or on an appeal of thejudgment, thus the motion can only be granted in unusual circumstances, such as when the judgment was procured byfraudwhich could not have been discovered at the time of the trial, or if the court entering the judgment lacked thejurisdictionto do so.

Setting Aside JudgmentIf you are a Defendant and you were not aware of the claim beingmade against you until after judgment then you can apply to set aside judgment.You may not become aware that judgment has been made against you until a court bailiff contacts you. You should act quickly and contact the court and make an application for:1)A Stay of Execution.
2)An order Setting Aside Judgment.
You should obtain an "ApplicationNotice Form" from the court. You will need to support your application with either an Affidavit or aStatement.Usually a court will agree to set aside judgment if you can show that you did not receive any court papers and therefore were not aware of the court case against you. For example, you may have moved and the Claimant may have given your old address to the court.An application for a stay of execution is necessary to stop the Claimant from trying toenforce judgment. You can makethis application without telling theClaimant and the court can make an order without the Claimant being at court.When you make your application to set aside judgment the court will fix a hearing date. Both you and the Claimant will have to go to this hearing. You will have to explain why you want the court toset aside judgment.If the court sets aside judgment you will be allowed to put in a Defence

explaining why you donot agree with the Claimant's claim.The court will also give you a timetable to explain what you must do next. For example, you may have to tell the Plaintiff what documents you want to use to prove your Defence and if you have witness(es) they may have to make statement(s) which you must send copies of to the Plaintiff.If you are the Claimant and you become aware at any stage that the particulars of claim may not have reached the Defendant you should apply to set aside any judgment which has been made.