S.m. Komathy a/p Suppiah (pk)

On the judicial record

A guide to how a High Court resolves tort claims including misfeasance in public office, contract and banking disputes, and the record-of-appeal and execution questions under the Rules of Court 2012 that govern their enforcement.

S.m. Komathy a/p Suppiah sits in the High Court, and this collection is a civil list authored in English, mixing substantive private-law claims with a good deal of appellate procedure. Tort is a strong strand: an assault claim and the assessment of aggravated and exemplary damages, and the tort of misfeasance in public office and whether it involves both public and private-law elements. Contract features through a bank guarantee given by a developer to a landowner and whether a call on the guarantee was made without basis and was unconscionable, and through a claim founded on innocent misrepresentation and its elements. Banking and finance appear through a claim by a credit-guarantee body and through public-utility litigation over electricity meter tampering and the recovery of lost revenue. Civil procedure is heavily represented, particularly the consequences of non-compliance with the rules governing the record of appeal under Order 55 of the Rules of Court 2012 — whether a failure to serve a draft index of documents or to comply with the record requirements is fatal to an appeal — and leave to issue execution more than six years after judgment within the twelve-year limitation period. Evidence questions arise where a plaintiff fails to give evidence and whether an adverse inference should be drawn under section 114(g) of the Evidence Act 1950. Judicial review is addressed through the correct mode of commencement, by writ or originating summons. The judgments identify the governing rule and apply it closely. Private individuals are referred to by role; corporate, governmental and statutory parties are named. A recurring theme is the court's careful policing of appellate and procedural compliance, and its willingness to test whether a rule is truly mandatory or merely directory before an appeal is lost on a technicality. The collection is a clear guide to how a High Court resolves tort, contract and banking claims and the procedural questions that govern their appeal and enforcement, and to the balance it strikes between compliance and access to justice.