Jagjit Singh & Co

On the court record

The firm's record illustrates the appellate treatment of liability and quantum in running-down claims and the statutory framework for varying custody orders under the Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act 1976.

Jagjit Singh & Co appears in the corpus as counsel in road-accident, family and costs litigation, argued in the High Court (Mahkamah Tinggi), including on appeal from the Sessions Court, in both English and Bahasa Malaysia.

A recurring theme is motor-accident litigation. Acting for the appellant in one matter, the firm appeared in a negligence claim arising from a collision between motorcycles where one rider had overtaken from the left, and the court examined whether the trial judge was correct to find the defendant fully liable, the assessment of conflicting evidence, the corroborative value of physical damage to the vehicles, contributory negligence, and the principles governing appellate interference with findings of fact and the assessment of general and special damages.

In family law the firm appeared in an application to vary a child-custody order under section 96 of the Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act 1976, together with an interim protection order affecting a parent's custody rights, and separately in a matter where a proposed intervener sought to intervene on behalf of a child born out of wedlock, based on promises to provide for the child, raising whether the child's pecuniary and proprietary interests would be affected by the matrimonial proceedings under the Divorce and Matrimonial Proceedings Rules 1980 and Order 15 rule 6 of the Rules of Court 2012.

The firm also acted for the plaintiff, Pacific & Orient Insurance Co. Berhad, in a costs dispute where there was no agreement between the parties on legal fees, so that under sub-section 121(1) of the Legal Profession Act 1976 a bill of costs could at the defendant's option be detailed or for a gross sum. The firm's record combines running-down advocacy with sensitive family work and the technicalities of costs. The breadth is characteristic of a busy general-litigation chambers, in which the appellate review of a Sessions Court liability finding sits alongside the welfare-driven discretion of the family jurisdiction and the exacting rules that govern how a solicitor's remuneration is assessed, all argued fluently across the two languages of the Malaysian courts.