BIG MAN MANAGEMENT SDN BHD v TENAGA NASIONAL BERHAD

Case Significance

A significant illustration of the availability of exemplary damages against a monopoly utility for a deliberate wrongful disconnection of electricity supply, the Federal Court reinstating special damages and awarding RM100,000 in exemplary damages for breach of statutory duty.

This Federal Court decision concerns the assessment and grant of damages where a utility has been found liable for the wrongful disconnection of electricity supply. The appellant, Big Man Management Sdn Bhd, appealed against a decision of the Court of Appeal which had declined to award it any damages despite a clear finding of liability against the respondent, Tenaga Nasional Berhad, for the deliberate disconnection of the electricity supply after the rectification of meter tampering. The appeal raised the evidential approach to proving special damages, the availability of exemplary damages in a claim for breach of contract or statutory duty, and the significance of the respondent's special position as the sole supplier of electricity for Peninsular Malaysia. The Court examined whether the Court of Appeal had erred in withholding damages notwithstanding liability, and whether exemplary damages could be awarded, having regard to the utility's monopoly position and the deliberate nature of the disconnection. The Court held that the finding of liability ought to have carried with it an award of the special damages proved, and that the case was an appropriate one for exemplary damages to mark the utility's breach of its statutory duty in circumstances where it wielded a monopoly over an essential service. Setting aside the Court of Appeal's decision on damages, the Court reinstated the High Court's award of special damages for the wrongful disconnection and awarded the appellant RM100,000 in exemplary damages for the respondent's breach of statutory duty; it also set aside the Court of Appeal's consequential award of costs to the respondent. Two of the questions of law posed were answered in the Court's grounds, and it declined to answer the remaining questions. The judgment is a significant illustration of the availability of exemplary damages against a monopoly utility for a deliberate wrongful disconnection.