Court of Appeal slashes Muhammad Shafee’s damages in Malaysian Bar suit to RM120,000

The Court of Appeal reduced Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah's damages from RM340,000 to RM120,000 in his suit against the Malaysian Bar.

The court found no malice in the Bar's actions despite recognising some illegalities, justifying the reduced damages.

Muhammad Shafee initially sued the Bar, former Attorney-General Tan Sri Tommy Thomas, and former Judge Tan Sri VC George in 2015 for breach of statutory duty.

PUTRAJAYA, Sept 14 — The Court of Appeal today reduced the damages awarded to senior lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah from RM340,000 to RM120,000 in his suit against the Malaysian Bar and two others for breach of statutory duty.

A three-member bench led by Justice Datuk Dr Choo Kah Sing, and comprising Datin Paduka Evrol Mariette Peters and Datuk Meor Hashimi Abdul Hamid, unanimously allowed the Malaysian Bar’s appeal in part.

The bench also dismissed Muhammad Shafee’s appeal seeking an increase in the quantum of damages.

In delivering the decision, Justice Choo held that the damages and quantum sought must be established by facts, rather than mere inference.

He further held that although there were illegalities in the Bar’s action, it did not automatically follow that the action was taken with malice.

The Bar had appealed on the ground that the quantum of damages awarded by the High Court was excessive, while Muhammad Shafee cross-appealed, contending that the sum awarded was inadequate and challenging the High Court’s refusal to grant exemplary damages.

In April last year, the High Court awarded Muhammad Shafee RM200,000 for reputational loss and injury to feelings, RM100,000 for loss of professional opportunities, RM20,000 for mental stress and health-related consequences, and RM20,000 in aggravated damages. It did not award exemplary damages.

However, the Court of Appeal today reduced the award for reputational loss and injury to feelings from RM200,000 to RM100,000, while maintaining the RM20,000 in aggravated damages.

The appellate court set aside the awards for loss of professional opportunities, mental stress and health-related consequences.

In March 2015, Muhammad Shafee sued the Bar, former Attorney-General Tan Sri Tommy Thomas and former Court of Appeal Judge Tan Sri VC George, both of whom were practising lawyers at the time, as defendants.

Muhammad Shafee claimed that Thomas had published and submitted a motion on Feb 28, 2015, for discussion at the Malaysian Bar annual general meeting on March 14 the same year, and that the motion was seconded by George.

The motion concerned Muhammad Shafee’s involvement in a roadshow in a sodomy case in which he was the ad hoc prosecutor.

On May 26, 2016, the High Court dismissed Muhammad Shafee’s suit. He subsequently lost his appeal in the Court of Appeal on Oct 11, 2018, prompting him to bring the matter to the Federal Court.

On Oct 20, 2021, the Federal Court allowed Muhammad Shafee’s appeal, holding that he was entitled to damages from the Bar, and ordered the case to be remitted to the High Court for an assessment of damages.

The Bar then filed a review bid, which was dismissed by the Federal Court on Sept 19, 2022.

Following that assessment, on April 14 last year, the High Court awarded RM340,000 in damages to Muhammad Shafee.

At the Court of Appeal today, lawyers Lambert Rasa-Ratnam and Colin Yoong Shern Zian represented the Malaysian Bar, while Muhammad Shafee appeared on his own behalf together with lawyer Naresh Mayachandran. — Bernama

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上诉法院将丹斯里穆罕默德·沙菲·阿卜杜拉起诉马来西亚律师公会的损害赔偿金从 34 万令吉减少到 12 万令吉。

尽管承认律师协会的行为存在一些违法行为，但法院认为其中并无恶意，因此减少了赔偿金额。

2015 年，穆罕默德·沙菲最初起诉律师公会、前总检察长丹斯里汤米·托马斯和前法官丹斯里 VC 乔治，指控他们违反法定职责。

布城，9月14日讯——上诉法院今日将资深律师丹斯里穆罕默德·沙菲·阿卜杜拉(Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah)起诉马来西亚律师公会及其他两人违反法定职责的赔偿金从34万令吉减少至12万令吉。

由大法官拿督朱家星博士领导、拿汀巴杜卡·埃夫罗·玛丽埃特·彼得斯和拿督梅奥·哈希米·阿卜杜勒·哈米德组成的三人陪审团一致同意马来西亚律师协会的部分上诉。

法庭还驳回了穆罕默德·沙菲要求增加赔偿金额的上诉。

在宣判时，朱法官认为，所寻求的损害赔偿和赔偿金额必须以事实为依据，而不是仅仅依靠推断。

他进一步认为，虽然律师协会的行为存在违法之处，但这并不意味着该行为一定是出于恶意。

律师协会以高等法院判决的赔偿金额过高为由提起上诉，而穆罕默德·沙菲则提起交叉上诉，认为判决的金额不足，并对高等法院拒绝判处惩罚性赔偿提出质疑。

去年四月，高等法院判决穆罕默德·沙菲获得20万令吉的名誉损失和精神损害赔偿，10万令吉的职业机会损失赔偿，2万令吉的精神压力和健康后果赔偿，以及2万令吉的加重损害赔偿。法院未判决惩罚性赔偿。

然而，上诉法院今天将名誉损失和精神损害赔偿金从 20 万令吉减少到 10 万令吉，同时维持 2 万令吉的加重损害赔偿金不变。

上诉法院撤销了对职业机会损失、精神压力和健康相关后果的赔偿裁决。

2015 年 3 月，穆罕默德·沙菲将律师公会、前总检察长丹斯里汤米·托马斯和前上诉法院法官丹斯里 VC 乔治（两人当时都是执业律师）列为被告。

穆罕默德·沙菲声称，托马斯于 2015 年 2 月 28 日发表并提交了一项动议，供同年 3 月 14 日马来西亚律师公会年度大会讨论，该动议得到了乔治的附议。

该动议涉及穆罕默德·沙菲参与的一起鸡奸案的巡回宣传活动，他是该案的临时检察官。

2016年5月26日，高等法院驳回了穆罕默德·沙菲的诉讼。随后，他在2018年10月11日向上诉法院提出的上诉也被驳回，这促使他将此案提交至联邦法院。

2021 年 10 月 20 日，联邦法院准许了穆罕默德·沙菲的上诉，裁定他有权从律师协会获得赔偿，并下令将此案发回高等法院进行损害赔偿评估。

随后，律师协会提出复审申请，但该申请于 2022 年 9 月 19 日被联邦法院驳回。

经过评估，去年 4 月 14 日，高等法院判决穆罕默德·沙菲获得 34 万令吉的赔偿。

今天在马来西亚上诉法院，律师兰伯特·拉萨-拉特南和杨雪莲代表马来西亚律师公会出庭，而穆罕默德·沙菲则与律师纳雷什·马亚钱德兰一同代表自己出庭。——马新社

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