Apex court bins resort director's leave bid to appeal against CTOS

The Federal Court today dismissed a businessperson’s application to get leave to appeal against a ruling that overturned a High Court order requiring CTOS Data Systems Sdn Bhd (CTOS) to pay her RM200,000 over an inaccurate credit rating.

A three-judge panel led by Court of Appeal president Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim rejected the leave application by resort director Suriati Mohd Yusof, 43.

Other judges on the panel were Federal Court Justices Zabariah Mohd Yusof and Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera.

“We unanimously, in our view, agree that all the proposed questions (of law) do not fulfil the threshold requirement under Section 96 of the Courts of Judicature Act (CJA) 1964. Thus, we dismiss the application with Suriati to pay the cost of RM30,000,” said Justice Abang Iskandar, during the online proceedings.

Suriati’s lawyer Nizam Bashir earlier requested the court to determine five questions of law, contending that they related to whether a customer has a cause of action against a credit reporting agency if a credit score is proven to be inaccurate or misleading.

Lawyer Malik Imtiaz Sarwar, appearing for CTOS, objected that the questions proposed by Nizam were not novel.

In order to obtain leave for a Federal Court appeal, an applicant must demonstrate that the proposed appeal raises novel legal or constitutional questions of public importance that have not been previously addressed and require further arguments.

Case details

In March, the Kuala Lumpur High Court ordered CTOS to pay RM200,000 to the woman over an inaccurate credit rating and ruled that CTOS had breached the duty of care owed to Suriati as well as overstepped the functions it was registered for.

In July, the Court of Appeal overturned the High Court’s decision and in allowing CTOS’ appeal, the court ruled that there was no defamation, no negligence, and no breach of statutory duty by the credit-reporting agency.

The court also ruled that the High Court decision that gave Suriati the damages had erred.

Suriati, who was formerly the director and shareholder of Keranji Beach Resort Sdn Bhd in Pulau Perhentian, Terengganu, sued CTOS for negligence and breach of fiduciary duty regarding the misrepresentation of her credit rating.

This misrepresentation allegedly resulted in personal and business setbacks, as well as tarnished her reputation.

In May 2019, the woman discovered that her car loan application had been rejected due to a negative report from CTOS. Upon investigation, she found that CTOS had inaccurately recorded her data, leading to her unfavourable credit rating.

- Bernama

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