Oct 28 hearing for Guan Eng’s appeal on damages Utusan needs to pay
Lim Guan Eng’s appeal over the quantum of damages that Utusan Melayu (M) Bhd has to pay to the former finance minister in a defamation suit, will be heard by the Court of Appeal on Oct 28.
His counsel Felix Lim said that the hearing date was set following case management of the matter before the Court of Appeal Registry today.
“The hearing of the appeal is fixed on Oct 28...
Lim Guan Eng’s appeal over the quantum of damages that Utusan Melayu (M) Bhd has to pay to the former finance minister in a defamation suit, will be heard by the Court of Appeal on Oct 28.
His counsel Felix Lim said that the hearing date was set following case management of the matter before the Court of Appeal Registry today.
“The hearing of the appeal is fixed on Oct 28. This is an appeal against the quantum of damages awarded by the Penang High Court,” the lawyer said when contacted this evening.
On Sept 27, 2018, at the Penang High Court, the Malay daily, through its feature editor Zulkifli Jalil, read out an apology in open court as part of an agreed settlement to Guan Eng’s (above) defamation suit against the media organisation.
The statement of apology was over an article titled “Pengundi Atas Pagar Jadi Penentu?” (On-the-fence voters to be deciding factor?) which was published in the daily on April 10, 2015.
The article alleged that Penang’s wakaf land was under the then Penang chief minister’s purview and control.
As part of the settlement, Utusan also needed to publish an apology in its newspaper.
Later in November 2018, the Penang High Court fixed RM30,000 as the quantum of damages that Utusan had to pay Guan Eng in the defamation suit.
Dissatisfied with the amount, Guan Eng appealed to the Court of Appeal.
In late 2019, Utusan was placed under creditor’s voluntary liquidation.
Today was initially set for the hearing of Guan Eng’s appeal.
During the online proceedings before the three-person bench chaired by Lee Swee Seng, Felix informed the panel that they already obtained leave from the Penang High Court to proceed with the appeal against Utusan.
Under the law, such an appeal leave from the High Court is necessary if the defendant-respondent has gone into liquidation.
However, the Court of Appeal today did not proceed with the hearing as the bench was of commercial jurisdiction while Guan Eng’s appeal was of a civil nature.
The bench, also presided by Mohd Sofian Abd Razak and Mariana Yahya, fixed the appeal for case management before the Court of Appeal Registry today.
The case management then led to the fixing of the new hearing date on Oct 28 before a new Court of Appeal bench.
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