Share:

Print

27 May 2024

Our Legal Associates, Lee Sheen Yee and Siti Sarah Kamaruzaman from Zul Rafique & Partners’ Litigation Practice Group have successfully obtained a declaratory order for a Defendant to be declared as a vexatious litigant and is thereby restrained and/or prohibited from “instituting any further applications and/or any legal proceedings in any courts against the Plaintiffs” without the leave of court. The on-going proceedings instituted by the Defendant against the Plaintiffs without the leave of Court shall also be struck off immediately with cost.


Such applications and granting of such order are rare due to the legal threshold provided for in item 17 of the Schedule to Section 25(2) of the Courts of Judicature Act 1964 i.e.:

“Vexatious litigants
17. Power to restrain any person who has habitually and persistently and without reasonable cause instituted vexatious legal proceedings in any court, whether against the same or different persons, from instituting any legal proceedings in any court save by leave of a Judge. A copy of any such order shall be published in the Gazette.”

This would also require the Courts to determine (on a factual basis) as to whether the legal proceedings instituted are indeed “without reasonable cause”.

Can a vexatious litigant be silenced? To a certain extent. This is especially so when the vexatious litigant had sued “the same party repeatedly in reliance on essentially the same cause of action, perhaps with minor variation” (Sim Kooi Soon v Malaysia Airlines System (No 2) [2011] 4 MLJ 728, the Court of Appeal) and in this case the vexatious litigant had lodged police reports against the Plaintiffs’ lawyers in charge for amongst others conducting the matter and providing a full and frank disclosure to the High Court Judge.

While individuals have the rights and are given liberty to commence legal proceedings against companies, Court’s interferences are warranted in instances where an individual or individuals have exhibited traits of a vexatious litigant to amongst others preserve the integrity of the legal profession and judicial systems and in order for the lawyers to uphold their duty to act without fear and favor.

For more insights into this area of law, please contact our Litigation Partners:
P Jayasingam

Wong Keat Ching
Thavaselvi Pararajasingam
Idza Hajar Ahmad Idzam
Nan Muhammad Ridhwan Rosnan
Nur Syafinaz Vani Abdullah

Please email your details to [email protected] if you would like to subscribe to our Knowledge Centre.

Let's Connect!
LINKEDIN: Zul Rafique & Partners
INSTAGRAM: @zrplaw