V.P. Nathan & Partners

On the court record

V.P. Nathan & Partners is a Malaysian firm whose reported matters before the High Court (Mahkamah Tinggi) are strongly concentrated in personal-injury and road-traffic litigation, and in particular the assessment of damages on appeal from the Sessions Court. The firm has appeared in appeals on the quantum of damages for serious injuries, including a right below-knee amputation, engaging heads of damage such as the loss of the prospect of marriage and whether that award is available to a male plaintiff, the loss of earning capacity and whether there was a real and substantial risk of future disadvantage, and the cost of a prosthesis including a bionic microprocessor limb. This work reflects a practice closely engaged with the modern heads and quantification of personal-injury damages.

The firm's liability work is equally substantial. It has litigated negligence arising from an abnormal-load trailer whose load crossed the carriageway without warning lights and under an invalid permit and without the required escort, engaging the prima facie negligence and higher responsibility of heavy vehicles, the apportionment of liability, and the reliability of conflicting witnesses and the significance of paying a summons as an admission. In other appeals, confined to quantum after liability was no longer disputed, the court examined whether awards were excessive and set aside awards unsupported by medical evidence, applying the principles that govern appellate interference with a Sessions Court's assessment.

In several quantum appeals the firm secured the setting aside of awards unsupported by medical evidence, illustrating the close scrutiny it brings to the proof required before damages for a particular injury may stand. The reported profile is that of a litigation practice with distinct depth in road-accident and personal-injury law, engaged both with the proof and apportionment of liability, especially for heavy and abnormal-load vehicles, and with the careful assessment of damages for catastrophic and lesser injuries, an area central to the compensation of accident victims before the trial and appellate courts.