The Constitutional Court has ordered a South African company, Akani eGoli (PTY) Limited, which uses Gold Reef City Casino as its trade name, to pay the legal costs of its customer, who sued it for damages after she slipped and fell at Gold Reef City Casino.
The customer who is the applicant in this matter, Shaynaz Prithilal, said she fell in September 2018. She initially sued Tsogo Sun Gaming Limited and pleaded that they owned and operated the Casino. However, in December 2021, Tsogo Sun submitted that Akani owned and operated the casino.
Prithilal then served an application to Akani to join this matter as a second defendant. Akani opposed the joinder application because Prithilal’s claim had passed the applicable time. However, Prithilal was successful.
In February last year, the matter was argued at the High Court and the ruling was that Prithilal pays the legal costs of Akani. She appealed this decision as she said having to pay the legal costs of Akani was unexplainable. Both the high court and the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) dismissed her appeal, she then took the matter to the apex court.
The Constitutional Court said that it was in the interest of justice for it to entertain Prithilal’s application, as the high court did not give its reasons for the order it issued. Akani argued that there were no grounds to interfere with the high court’s discretion.
“In the absence of reasons it is impossible to know that the high court exercised a discretion at all, and it is certainly not possible to say that it made the order by acting on correct principles and considering all relevant factors,” said Justice Owen Rogers.
He added that even when this failure was pertinently raised in Prithilal’s application for leave to appeal, the High Court did not, when dismissing her application, explain its decision.
“One of the consequences of the absence of reasons is that Prithilal was deprived of the opportunity of demonstrating to the SCA that the high court went astray on a basis justifying appellate interference,” Justice Rogers explained.
He said there was no reason why Akani should not pay for the costs of Prithilal in this court and her unsuccessful appeals at the lower courts.
Justice Rogers therefore ordered that Akani pay legal fees of the high court, SCA, and the apex court.
