Dispute Resolution & Litigation

There are generally four main stages in civil proceedings, namely the filling and closing of pleadings, pre-trial case management, and trial and post-trial submissions.
A civil action is generally commenced by the filling and service of writ. Then, the action will be set down pre-trial case management, where directions will be issued by the court to prepare the matter for trial. This will take around two to three months. The court will usually allow counsel to have two or three months to prepare their submissions and reply submissions before a post-trial submissions hearing is fixed. The court will then deliver a judgement.

In Malaysia, we have injunctions and pre-action discovery

Criteria for an injunction application is:

a) Whether there is a serious question to be tried

b) Whether damages are an adequate remedy

c) Whether the balance of convenience titles in favour of the applicant

Freezing and withdraw the funds from Debtor’s Bank Account is know as “GARNISHEE PROCEEDINGS“
It is one of the execution after judgment obtained from the court. When you have a monetary sum due from a Judgment, a garnishee application may be applied to attach monies owed from a debtor’s bank account to satisfy the sum due. The application will seek a court order to direct the debtor’s banks to attach whatever amount is in the debtor’s bank account to have it satisfy the judgment debt owed to the judgment creditor. 

Where a judgment creditor is aware that monies is due and owing to the judgment debtor by a third party e.g. contractor, the judgment creditor may obtain an order of the Court to order the third party to pay the judgment creditor the amount of any debt due or accruing due to the judgment debtor from the third party, or such thereof as is sufficient to satisfy that judgment or other and the costs of the garnishee proceedings.

Bankruptcy refers to a process where a debtor will be declared a bankrupt pursuant to a court order. All property belonging to the bankrupt will vest on the Director General of Insolvency (DGI) and the DGI has the responsibility to sell all such assets. Once this is completed, the proceeds of the sale will be distributed among creditors who have filed their proof of debts with the DGI’s office.

Yes. The creditor may file for bankruptcy action against debtor only if the debt owing is more than RM 50,000

Winding up is also known as “liquidation”, when a company cannot pay its debt and when it falls due, a company is insolvent.

Yes. The creditor may file for a winding-up action against debtor if the debt owing is more than RM 10,000

Bankruptcy is against the individual while winding up is against a company.

A Judgement debtor Summon application  can be utilized for discovery of information on the assets of the judgment debtor. The debtor will be called to appear in front of the Court to disclose his assets and financial means. At the end of the discovery process, the Court can order the debtor to pay the judgment either in one-lump sum or instalments. If the debtor fails to comply with the payment schedule set by the Court, he can be summoned to court again to show because why he should not be imprisoned.

This type of action is know as “Prohibitor order“. This is a court order prohibiting the judgment debtor (owner) from dealing with his land which is subject to execution by way of seizure and sale by a judgment creditor.

After obtaining the prohibitor order, the judgment creditor can proceed to obtain the order for sale to auction the piece of land to recover the same.