JCW

[setting aside of Judgment under Reciprocal Enforcement of Judgment Act]    Justin Voon was the counsel for the Defendant. We believe that this is the first case in Malaysia where an attempt to register the Singapore Judgment was made whilst the Malaysian Suit was on-going which inter-alia canvass the same issues. The following issues  emerge from this decision  :   (i)Res Judicata applies in a REJA case – whether the decision in the JB Suit on 2 occasions that the Singapore Suit will not prevail over the JB Suit would be binding here in the REJA Case; (ii)Whether Res Judicata is a facet of public policy and therefore, whether the said Foreign Singapore Judgment can be set aside under Section 5 (1)(a)(v) of the REJA “that the enforcement of the judgment would be contrary to public policy in Malaysia”    The High Court set aside the registered Judgment based on Res Judicata accepted as part of public policy [overturned on appeal]   [Note: This High Court decision has been overturned by the Court of Appeal vide Civil Appeal No. J-02(IM)-1509-07/2018]