Court of Appeal slashes Klang council’s RM117m dumpsite damages bill to RM3m

PUTRAJAYA, Oct 26 — The Court of Appeal today reduced the damages payable by the Klang Municipal Council, now known as the Klang Royal City Council, to property developer NBC Land Sdn Bhd from RM117 million to RM3 million in a dispute over the rehabilitation of a former dumpsite.

A three-man bench comprising Datuk Ismail Brahim, K. Muniandy and Datuk Dean Wayne Daly also set aside nearly RM50 million in pre-judgment interest previously imposed by the Shah Alam High Court on the local authority.

Delivering the broad grounds of judgment, Justice Muniandy said the Shah Alam High Court was plainly wrong in principle and in law in the assessment of damages which warranted the intervention of the appellate court.

“The contractual damages flowing from the breach of the Dec 2, 2003 agreement must be assessed based on the works contemplated under the contract, namely the soil capping scheme estimated at RM6 million of which the appellant (Klang Municipal Council) was to bear 50 percent,” he said.

Justice Muniandy said the agreement reached by parties was not an open warranty by the local authority to eradicate all waste or convert the dumpsite into virgin ground, rather the consensus was based on a specific proposal by the company’s own consultant to execute an in-situ soil capping of approximately 1.5 meters of compacted soil over the waste, at an estimated cost of RM6 million.

“The parties agreed to share this estimated cost of RM6 million equally, 50 percent each (RM3 million each),” he said.

Justice Muniandy said that the High Court also erred in law in awarding the pre-judgment interest under Section 11 of the Civil Law Act 1956 as the award of pre-judgment interest cannot stand because the rehabilitation works were never executed and the landfill was also never excavated and third-party contractors were also not paid.

“To award nearly nine years of pre-judgment interest, amounting to approximately RM50 million, on an unspent, unliquidated estimate of works penalises the appellant (Klang Municipal Council) and produces an impermissible windfall,” he said.

Therefore, he said the court substitute the High Court’s award with RM3 million in damages, representing the council’s agreed 50 per cent share of the RM6 million rehabilitation cost.

NBC Land acquired the land and obtained approval for residential development. It is not disputed that NBC Land knew at the time of acquisition that the land had been used as a dumpsite.

On Dec 2, 2003, following discussions between parties, an agreement was reached whereby the council agreed to carry out rehabilitation works in respect of the subject land and to bear 50 percent of the rehabilitation cost which was estimated at RM6 million. However, the council did not carry out the rehabilitation works.

In July 2020, the earlier panel of the Court of Appeal had held that the council was in breach of the agreement and remitted the matter back to the High Court for assessment of damages. The High Court proceeded to assess damages and in Feb this year entered judgment in favour of the company for RM117 million.

At the proceeding today, Tan Sri Tommy Thomas, Datuk Seri Nik Suhaimi Nik Sulaiman, Muhd Fadzli Amin Muhd Yusoff and Atiqah Azman represented the Klang Municipal Council while Harold Tan Kok Leng represented NBC Land. — Bernama

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布城，10月26日讯——上诉法院今日将巴生市政局（现称巴生皇家市政局）向房地产开发商NBC Land Sdn Bhd支付的赔偿金从1.17亿令吉减少至300万令吉，该赔偿金源于一起关于修复前垃圾场的纠纷。

由 Datuk Ismail Brahim、K. Muniandy 和 Datuk Dean Wayne Daly 组成的三人法官小组还撤销了莎阿南高等法院此前对地方当局判处的近 5000 万令吉的判决前利息。

穆尼亚迪法官在宣读判决理由时表示，沙阿南高等法院在评估损害赔偿方面，在原则和法律上显然是错误的，因此需要上诉法院介入。

他说：“因违反 2003 年 12 月 2 日协议而产生的合同损害赔偿必须根据合同中设想的工程进行评估，即预计耗资 600 万令吉的土壤覆盖计划，其中上诉人（巴生市议会）应承担 50% 的费用。”

穆尼亚迪法官表示，各方达成的协议并非地方当局承诺彻底清除所有垃圾或将垃圾场改造成原始土地，而是基于该公司顾问提出的具体建议，即在垃圾上原位覆盖约 1.5 米厚的压实土壤，预计耗资 600 万令吉。

他说：“双方同意平均分担这笔预计600万令吉的费用，各占50%（每人300万令吉）。”

穆尼亚迪法官表示，高等法院在根据 1956 年《民事法》第 11 条裁定判决前利息方面也存在法律错误，因为判决前利息的裁定不能成立，因为修复工程从未执行，垃圾填埋场也从未挖掘，第三方承包商也没有获得付款。

他说：“对尚未支出、尚未清算的工程估算，判给近九年的判决前利息，总额约为 5000 万令吉，是对上诉人（巴生市议会）的惩罚，并造成了不合理的意外之财。”

因此，他表示，法院以 300 万令吉的赔偿金代替高等法院的裁决，这 300 万令吉代表了理事会同意承担的 600 万令吉重建费用的 50%。

NBC Land公司收购了这块土地，并获得了住宅开发许可。双方均不否认，NBC Land公司在收购时已知晓该土地曾被用作垃圾填埋场。

2003年12月2日，经双方协商，达成协议，市议会同意对涉案土地进行修复工程，并承担50%的修复费用，预计费用为600万令吉。然而，市议会并未实施修复工程。

2020年7月，上诉法院此前的合议庭裁定该委员会违反了协议，并将案件发回高等法院评估损害赔偿。高等法院随后进行了损害赔偿评估，并于今年2月作出判决，判令该委员会向公司支付1.17亿令吉的赔偿金。

在今天的诉讼中，代表巴生市议会的丹斯里汤米汤玛斯、拿督斯里尼克苏海米尼克苏莱曼、莫哈末法兹里阿明莫哈末尤索夫和阿提卡阿兹曼，以及代表 NBC Land 的哈罗德陈国灵。 — 马新社

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