Kuala Lumpur City Council (DBKL) and two others succeeded in their bid to strike out a mother’s lawsuit over the death of her teenage son after he was hit by a falling office chair at a low-cost flat in 2018.
The Kuala Lumpur High Court this afternoon allowed the striking-out application by DBKL, as well as the Federal Territories Ministry and the federal government, against the suit by S Kasthuribai.
The 48-year-old plaintiff was suing the trio for negligence over the death of S Sathiswaran, 15, when his head was hit by an office chair hurled from the 21st floor of the Pantai Dalam People's Housing Projects (PPR) flat, on the night of Jan 15, four years ago.
On April 30 last year, news portal The Malaysian Insight reported that the restaurant helper filed the writ of summons that same day.
Through the suit, she contended that DBKL has a duty to ensure the safety and cleanliness of the PPR’s public areas, claiming that had they done so, they would have disposed of the office chair which was allegedly left unattended at a corridor on the 21st floor of the flat.
She also claimed that the ministry and the government are vicariously responsible for DBKL’s alleged failure of duty to ensure proper maintenance of the PPR.
The Sri Pantai public housing scheme is operated by DBKL. Like most public housing schemes, rent is low but maintenance is severely lacking.
DBKL claims frivolous lawsuit
However, in late last year, the three defendants filed their striking-out bids, with DBKL claiming that the lawsuit was frivolous, vexatious and an abuse of court process due to it being filed out of time, as per Section 2(a) of the Public Authorities Protection Act 1948.
On their part, the ministry and government contended that Kasthuribai failed to show she had any reasonable cause of action to institute the lawsuit, alleging that the suit failed to particularise the details of the negligence claimed.
When contacted this afternoon, Kasthuribai’s counsel Rajesh Nagarajan confirmed that judge Hayatul Akmal Abdul Aziz allowed the striking-out applications during online proceedings today.
“In summary, the suit has been struck out as the plaintiff was unable to provide medical evidence to prove her disability. No order as to costs,” the lawyer said.
Besides Rajesh, counsel Sachpreetraj Singh and Pavitra Loganathan appeared for Kasthuribai, while lawyer Kelvin Manuel Pillay acted for DBKL. Senior federal counsel Rohaiza Hamzah represented the ministry and the government.
The court delivered its decision after hearing submissions from the parties' legal teams earlier this morning.
In January 2018, the police said the authorities were probing the Form Three student’s fatal incident under Section 304A of the Penal Code for causing death by negligence.
On Jan 21 the same year, then federal territories minister Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor said that the ministry would take action against the individual who allegedly hurled the chair from the high floor of the PPR.
It was reported that around 300 people turned up for the funeral of the deceased three days after the incident (Jan 18, 2018), with a reportedly inconsolable Kasthuribai. - Mkini
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