1. The Plaint

The person who institutes a law suit is called a plaintiff while the party against whom the law suit is instituted is called a defendant. Before a lawsuit is instituted, a person is required to give a Notice of Intention to Sue to the other party.

A law suit may be instituted by filing a Plaint in the court registry. A plaint is a document stating the plaintiff’s claim against the defendant and what he/she wishes court to do for him/her.

2. Accompanying Documents to the Plaint

The plaint must be supported by:

• Summary of Evidence
• List of documents
• Witnesses
• Authorities that the plaintiff intends to rely on

The plaint should also be accompanied by a Mediation Case Summary. When filing the plaint, the requisite filing fees (UGX 1,500 – UGX 3,000) must be paid in the bank and evidence of payment (bank deposit slip) attached to the plaint.

3. The Summons

Plaintiff then extracts a Summons from court requiring the defendant to either file a defence or appear in court on a day specified therein and serves it together with the plaint on the defendant within 21 days after court issues the summons.

Once the summons is served on the defendant, the plaintiff must file an Affidavit of Service of Summons in court clearly stating how he/she served it on the defendant. The defendant in this case may defend themselves (see How to defend a law suit).

4. The Mediation

Court will within 14 days after filing of the court documents is complete; notify the parties of the commencement of mediation by way of a notice.

The mediation is required to be completed within 60 days after the mediator commences mediation. If the mediation is successful/unsuccessful, then the mediator makes a report to that effect.

5. Scheduling Conference

Where mediation is not successful, the case proceeds to a scheduling conference where the parties agree on the issues to be resolved in court. Here the plaintiff and defendant can opt to file a Joint Scheduling Memorandum.

After the scheduling conference, the plaintiff then sets down the case for hearing by giving a Hearing Notice to the defendant.

6. The Hearing

At the hearing, the court will receive evidence from the plaintiff in respect to his claim and the defendant in respect to his defence. After hearing from both parties or from only the plaintiff where the defendant does not file a defence, court will go ahead to give judgement.