The Court of Appeal in its grounds of judgment dated 18 March 2021 in Sunrise Megaway Sdn Bhd (in liquidation) v Kathryn Ma Wai Fong set out the principles when there is a challenge on a liquidator’s decision to admit or reject a proof of debt. Exceptional circumstances are required to second guess the liquidator’s decision.
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In this Case Update series, I share summaries of recent Malaysian court decisions to explore the current approach taken by the courts when deciding on employment-related issues. You can find all the posts in the series by clicking here, including case updates on other legal areas by TheMalaysianLawyer co-founder Lee Shih.
Retrenchment exercises have been a regular occurrence in the Malaysian industrial relations landscape for many years now. This looks set to continue deep into 2021, as employers respond to the challenges created by the on-going pandemic. Despite this prevalence, many employers often mishandle retrenchment exercises, with significant consequences.
The recent Court of Appeal (“the COA”) case of Ng Chang Seng v. Technip Geoproduction (M) Sdn Bhd & Anor [2021] 1 CLJ 365 usefully sets out some key legal and practical principles that all employers should consider when embarking on a retrenchment exercise. Among others, the judgment in the Ng Chang Seng case covered the following issues:
You can find all our previous posts on retrenchments by clicking on the tag here. Some of my earlier articles have been very popular and should prove useful:
Our guest author, Kevin Wong, writes on the top 5 construction cases in Malaysia for 2020. The areas covered include when does time run for the calculation of liquidated damages, the Controller of Housing, and cases on the Construction Industry Payment and Adjudication Act 2012 (CIPAA).
I set out the ten amendments to the Rules of Court 2012 (ROC 2012) which comes into force on 15 December 2020. Some of these changes include service of court papers by electronic means, virtual hearings, and the restrictions on adjournments of trials. There are also minor additions to the Rules of the Court of Appeal 1994 (see the Rules of the Court of Appeal (Amendment) 2020) and to the Rules of the Federal Court 1995 (see the Rules of the Federal Court (Amendment) 2020).
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Today was the Opening of the Legal Year 2020 for Malaysia. This annual ceremony would see speeches delivered by the heads of the Attorney-General’s Chambers, the Malaysian Bar and the Judiciary.
The Chief Justice of Malaysia, Tan Sri Tengku Maimun binti Tuan Mat, set out in her speech the upcoming reforms to the judicial system. I cover nine of the areas below, ranging from limiting appeals on interlocutory applications, environmental law provisions and the full digitalisation of courts.
The Court of Appeal issued its Grounds of Judgment dated 11 December 2018 in the case of Ong Kwong Yew and others v Ong Ching Chee and others. It is a cautionary tale for liquidators on the grounds for their removal as liquidator and their conduct in terms of seeking fees for work done.
The conduct of the liquidator was serious enough for the Court of Appeal to remark that the liquidator ought to be sanctioned by the Malaysian Institute of Accountants or the Director-General of Insolvency.
