Key Points
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The law firm was demanding Sh4,651,926, but the amount was reduced to Sh1,171,926 by the deputy registrar.
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Kitany denies giving advocates instructions to represent her in court
Former chief of staff at Deputy President William Ruto’s office, Marianne Kitany, has been dealt a blow against the case that involved her estranged husband Senator Linturi after being ordered to pay city law firm Sh1 million in legal fees.
The court ordered Kitany to pay the amount to Triple-A Law LLP for filing a case against her husband, Meru Senator Mithika Linturi.
Kitany has however opposed to the demand, arguing that she had not given the law firm any written, oral, or given instructions to file the lawsuit.
According to her she only learned that the advocates had filed the suit when they sent her a fee note against the case which was lodged at the Milimani Law Courts in 2018.
The law firm was demanding Sh4,651,926, but the amount was reduced to Sh1,171,926 by the deputy registrar.
The advocates then began the process of enforcing the payment of the amount but Kitany maintained her ground that she did not owe them any money.
In her objection to paying the amount, Kitany urged Justice David Majanja to find that the advocates had failed to prove that she had instructed to file the case.
But Justice David maintained that according to section 51(2) of the Advocates Act, once a Certificate of Costs is issued, it is final and conclusive.
“Although the client disputes the retainer, that issue has been determined by the deputy registrar.
It can only be reviewed by filing a reference and since no reference has been filed, the Certificate of Costs is now final and conclusive within the meaning of section 51(2) of the Advocates Act,” said the Judge.
Justice David Majanja urged that at the time the deputy registrar was reviewing the legal fee from Sh4 million to Sh 1 million, she or she had determined whether there was a retainer agreement between the advocates and Kitany.
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Justice Majanja ruled that the decision by the registrar on the legal fees cannot be reviewed through the backdoor as a response to an application for judgment on the certificate of costs.
In defense of their demands from Kitany, the advocates submitted that under section 51(2) of the Advocates Act, the Certificate of Costs is conclusive.
The advocates added that once a client had failed to file a reference on the issues of a retainer, he or she cannot contest the same at the stage when an advocate is seeking a judgment to be entered by the deputy registrar.
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