The High Court has struck businessman Isaac Samuel Levy's urgent application seeking the restoration of dividends and other payments from family-owned companies, ruling that the dispute does not warrant urgent intervention because the same issues are already before the court in separate proceedings.
Justice Benjamin Chikowero dismissed the application and ordered Levy to pay legal costs after finding that he was seeking, through urgent proceedings, relief he had already claimed in a pending High Court action.
Levy had sued his sister Julia Naile Naome Aryeh, his brothers Maurice Samuel Levy and Raymond Samuel Levy, together with Farmex (Private) Limited and Mutual Finance (Private) Limited.
The four are children of the late property developer Sam Levy, whose name is associated with the landmark Sam Levy's Village shopping and business complex in Harare.
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In his judgment, Chikowero said the application had been improperly brought as an urgent matter, adopting remarks made in an earlier High Court ruling.
"I find it hard to accept that the applicant's legal practitioners had carefully thought through their client's case and the possible legal remedies available to him before bringing this application in the form that it is in. These sentiments apply to the matter before me with equal force."
The judge accepted that Levy had acted promptly after learning that his dividends and related payments had been suspended, but said speed alone did not make the matter urgent.
"Although I have found for the applicant on the time factor, I am still satisfied that the matter is not urgent."
Levy argued that after challenging what he alleges is a forged special power of attorney and a US$15 million acknowledgement of debt, his siblings escalated the dispute by cutting off his salary, dividends and other financial benefits to pressure him into abandoning the legal fight.
He told the court the financial cutoff was intended to prevent him from funding his lawyers and pursuing the main lawsuit.
However, Chikowero found that Levy had already sought identical relief in summons filed in the High Court a day before launching the urgent chamber application.
"The summons matter is evidence that what the applicant has placed before me can wait. Indeed, the applicant himself acknowledges as much because he has already issued summons claiming dividends and allied payments."
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The judge added that there was no irreparable prejudice requiring immediate intervention.
"There is no irreparable prejudice to his legal interest regarding payment of dividends if I do not intervene now because that issue shall be determined in the ordinary way in the summons matter."
The court upheld the respondents' preliminary objection, struck the matter off the roll of urgent matters and ordered Levy to pay the respondents' costs.
The dispute stems from a wider legal battle over businesses founded by the late Sam Levy. In the pending main case, Isaac Levy is seeking to have a special power of attorney dated November 30, 2025 declared a forgery, the US$15 million acknowledgement of debt set aside because it was signed under economic and psychological duress, and an order compelling the companies to pay allegedly withheld remuneration and shareholder dividends. The respondents oppose the claims, maintaining that the issues should be resolved through the ordinary court process.
