Zabariah binti Mohd Yusof

On the judicial record

A Federal Court judge whose reported corpus settles apex-level questions across housing damages, the arbitration–winding-up interface, insurance, defamation and sensitive public law.

Justice Zabariah binti Mohd Yusof sits in the Federal Court (Mahkamah Persekutuan), Malaysia's apex court, and the reported decisions in this corpus resolve questions of general importance across civil procedure, commercial law, insurance, defamation and public law. Housing and consumer-protection questions recur, including a decision on liquidated ascertained damages for the late delivery of vacant possession where developers had been granted an extension of time to complete a housing project, a matter of significant consequence for house buyers.

Commercial and insolvency law features through a decision on the threshold test for a stay, dismissal or a Fortuna injunction where a debt underlying a winding-up petition is subject to an arbitration clause, engaging the interaction between arbitration and winding up and the interpretation of section 17A of the Interpretation Acts. Revenue law appears in a stamp-duty appeal on whether an asset-purchase agreement was a conveyance on sale within section 21(1) of the Stamp Act 1949. Insurance questions arise on an insurer's liability to a passenger who has obtained judgment and the operation of section 91(1)(b)(bb) of the Road Transport Act 1987.

Defamation law is addressed through the settled ambit of the defence of fair comment, and public-law questions of high sensitivity come before the court, including the discretion of a State Head of State under a State Constitution to determine whether a Chief Minister has ceased to command the confidence of the majority, and the Attorney General's role at the leave stage of judicial review under Order 53 rule 3(3) of the Rules of Court, together with the treatment of an application to adduce fresh evidence. Land-acquisition compensation and the interpretation of section 60(1)(a) of the Sarawak Land Code also feature, including a dispute over the calculation of compensation and inordinate delay in resolving it. Civil-procedure questions of general reach arise as well, such as the effect of filing many separate suits against separate defendants for similar relief. The decisions reflect an apex-court judge resolving contested points for the guidance of the courts below, where each ruling sets the governing rule rather than merely deciding the parties' dispute.