ISSUE:

1. What damages can Ahmad recover from following the car accident which caused
significant personal injury and financial losses from the second claim against the
defendant?
2. What other types of claim of damages can Ahmad be awarded from second claim
against the defendant ?
3. Under assessment of the damages through of Multiplier and Multiplicand, what can
Ahmad expect to be claimed against the defendant.?

LAW:

FIRST ISSUE
- Damages are monetary compensation from harm suffered by the claimant due to the
action of the liable party.
- There are two types of damages which are general and special damages.
- General damages are where the plaintiff suffered a loss that cannot be specifically
quantified, such as future loss of earnings, loss of amenities, etc. Special damages are
the loss that the plaintiff suffered where the amount can be quantified between the date
of the accident and judgment.
- This means that if a person’s property is damaged due to the wrongful act of another, the
amount of loss can be counted as the amount such as pre-trial loss of earnings, medical
expenses, property damage and so on.
- However, to claim special damages, the claimant must plead and prove compensation at
the court.
- For example, in the case of Surendran a/l Jaya Seelan v Umar bin Ardi & Anor, two
motorcycle riders got into a collision while travelling in opposite directions. However, both
parties tell different sides of the story of what happened to the enforcement. The
plaintiff’s claim arose from the accident on the day of the accident and a week later
commenced an action against the defendants for negligence.
- The court held that the defendants are liable for the negligence on a 100% liability basis
together with interests and costs.

SECOND ISSUE
- Special damages are the loss that the plaintiff suffered where the amount can be
quantified between the date of the accident and judgment.
- Under special damages, there are numerous types of damages that the plaintiff can
claim which are medical expenses and property damage.
- Medical expenses are the costs incurred for healthcare services, treatments and
medications while property damage is harm done by another person upon assets or
belongings that belong to the person such as a vehicle and so on.
- For example, in the case of Mohd Shahril bin Abdul Rahman v Ahmad Zulfendi bin
Anuar, the plaintiff who was riding his motorcycle stopped at a T-Junction and after
making sure there were no vehicles, he came out of the junction. However, when he was
 on the main road, Defendant who was driving a car at a high speed made a U-turn in the
opposite direction entered Plaintiff’s lane and collided with the front right part of Plaintiff’s
motorcycle causing Plaintiff to fall and suffer serious injuries. However, Defendant
denied that he made any U-turn and that he was driving home when Plaintiff came out of
the junction without stopping and rode into his lane causing Defendant to collide with
him.
- The court held that as the plaintiff did not have a riding license, road tax or insurance he
was not entitled to compensation and wouldn’t get the 30% of what he should be entitled
to and awarded RM 10000 to the defendant which will be paid by the Plaintiff.

THIRD ISSUE:

- There are two types of assessment of damages which are multiplier and multiplicand.
- Multiplicand is the court’s assessment of the claimant’s net annual loss which will be
determined by the gross annual loss up to the trial meanwhile multiplier is the period of
future loss such as if a claimant is unable to work after the accident, the number will be
based on the pre-accident working life expectancy.
- Before the Amendment Act, it was usually used for the assessment of loss of future
earnings by determining the multiplier by taking the retirement age, deducting the current
age of the victim and reducing the balance by one-third for contingencies.
- However, after the 1984 Amendment, according to Section 28A(2)(d(i)) of the
Amendment Act 1984, has set fixed multipliers which are accidents that happen when a
person below the age of 30 is 16.
- For example, in the case of Muhammad Shaiful Azhil bin Samsor v Suphattra a/p Visal &
Anor, the accident involved a motorcycle that was ridden by the plaintiff and a car driven
by the first defendant while the second defendant was the registered owner of the car.
The plaintiff making a claim under the grounds of negligence against the defendants for
making an illegal U-Turn.
- The court held that the defendant is liable and awarded damages to the plaintiff on a
100% liability basis with costs and interests.

APPLICATION:

ISSUE 1:
In this case, Ahmad suffered a serious injury that can be classified as damages.Damages in the
context of law are monetary compensation for the harm suffered by the claimant due to the
action of the liability of the other party.In which there are two types of damages,general damage
and special damage.General damages are loss that cannot be specified amount of loss such as
future earning ,loss of amenities in which are the result suffered by claimant due to wrongful act
of the other . The damage that is suffered by Ahmad is considered as general damage.This is
due to the fact that after he has sustained injury from the accident he had future loss of earning
due to his loss of leg which will compromised his working,loss of amenities of which are his leg
replaced by artificial leg that are required to be change annually and the other suffering that
could not be classified into a specific amount had fulfilled the criteria of general damage.At the
same time, the injury that had been sustained from the accident had resulted to loss of earning
of Ahmad in which before he was earning RM 48,000 annually but due to his injury he had to
take another job after 2 years that only makes RM 12,000 annually.This fact had impacted
heavily on the quality of Ahmad’s life both financially and emotionally.This can be seen also in
the case of Surendan A/L Jaya Seelan V Umar Bin Ardi & Anor where two motorcycle riders got
into a collision while travelling in opposite directions. However, both parties tell different sides of
the story of what happened to the enforcement.The plaintiff’s claim arose from the accident on
the day of the accident and a week later commenced an action against the defendants for
negligence.The court held that the defendants are liable for the negligence on a 100% liability
basis together with interests and costs.Similar to Ahmad’s situation,constituting to his right as a
claimant to be able to claim against the wrongdoer who causes his injury.

ISSUE 2:
Next, is the issue on the claim of the damage to his motorcycle that was severely damaged due
to the accident.Special damages can be applied in this scenario of claiming for the damage
upon the motorcycle injury.Special damages are loss of the plaintiff suffered where amount can
be quantified between the date of accident and the date of judgement.This is due to special
damage have numerous types of damages that can be covered in claimant in which are
example of medical expenses and property damage.Medical expenses are the costs incurred
for healthcare services, treatments and medications while property damage is harm done by
another person upon assets or belongings that belong to the person such as vehicle and so
on.In Ahmad’s situation ,he had to acquire a round-the-clock nurse supervision which cost him
RM 2,000 per month for the nursing care and for the motorcycle that was damaged during the
accident occured.All of this claimant shall be in the virtue of special damages in which they
fulfilled the criteria of special damages.As for the claim of the nursing that was required for the
six months ,Ahmad could claim by the multiplier method to attain the sum of the claim . In the
virtue of Mohd Shahril bin Abdul Rahman v Ahmad Zulfendi bin Anuar, the plaintiff who was
riding his motorcycle stopped at a T-Junction and after making sure there were no vehicles, he
came out of the junction. However, when he was on the main road, Defendant who was driving
a car at a high speed made a U-turn in the opposite direction entered Plaintiff’s lane and collided
with the front right part of Plaintiff’s motorcycle causing Plaintiff to fall and suffer serious injuries.
However, Defendant denied that he made any U-turn and that he was driving home when
Plaintiff came out of the junction without stopping and rode into his lane causing Defendant to
collide with him.The court held that as the plaintiff did not have a riding license, road tax or
insurance are not entitled to compensation and won’t get the 30% of what he should be entitled
to and awarded RM 10000 to the defendant which will be paid by the Plaintiff.This case related
to Ahmad’s situation in the same concept of claiming by multiplier and multiplicand method to
get the sume of the total that can be claimed and as the injury is caused by the other
party.Hence,making Ahmad able to claim for his cost for the motorcycle and also the cost of the
nursing during the six months period.
ISSUE 3:

In the above situation ,in order to claim for damages the amount may be calculated by a method
that will provide the amount that cm may be claimed.There are two types of assessment of
damages which are multiplier and multiplicant.In which, first is multiplicand .Ir is where the
court’s assessment of the claimant’s net annual loss which will be determined by the gross
annual loss up to the trial meanwhile multiplier is the period of future loss such as if a claimant is
unable to work after the accident, the number will be based on the pre-accident working life
expectancy.Before the Amendment Act, it is usually used for the assessment of loss of future
earnings by determining the multiplier by taking the retirement age deducting the current age of
the victim and reducing the balance by one-third for contingencies.However, after the 1984
Amendment, according to Section 28A(2)(d(i)) of the Amendment Act 1984, has set fixed
multipliers which are accidents that happen when a person below the age of 30 is 16.To relate
with the case above ,it can be seen in the virtue of Muhammad Shaiful Azhil bin Samsor v
Suphattra a/p Visal & Anor, the accident involved a motorcycle that was ridden by the plaintiff
and a car driven by the first defendant while the second defendant was the registered owner of
the car. The plaintiff making a claim under the grounds of negligence against the defendants for
making an illegal U-Turn and the court held that the defendant is liable and awarded damages
to the plaintiff on a 100% liability basis with costs and interests.As he has lossed his amenities
due to the accident occur,the lost of future earnings can be claim during the whole time that
Ahmad’s was unemployed due to his injury .Not only was he injured but also lost his income as
during the whole 2 years and still having to pay the cost for medical bills.By claiming with the
concept of multiplier not only it can help in terms of gaining back the money lost but also help in
gaining the life back to what is was before the accident occur.

CONCLUSION:

Ahmad can recover both general and special damages following the accident that caused
significant personal injury and financial losses that is still on-going. General damages include
non-quantifiable losses such as pain and suffering, loss of future earnings, and loss of
amenities. Special damages cover quantifiable losses incurred between the accident date and
the judgment, such as pre-trial loss of earnings, medical expenses, and property damage. To
succeed in claiming special damages, Ahmad must plead and provide evidence of these losses
in court. Ahmad must establish his on-going injury was caused by the accident and subsequent
damages. There is the need for the plaintiff to prove the defendant's liability and the resulting
losses. Therefore, Ahmad should focus on proving the defendant’s liability for the accident and
providing detailed evidence of all incurred and future losses to maximize his compensation.
Moreover, under the assessment of damages by way of Multiplier and Multiplicand. Ahmad can
claim an amount calculated by the courts from the damages if he is able to prove to the courts
that his current situation is an on-going result of the accident. By using this assessment for
damages, Ahmad will be able to reimburse the funds he has been using to hire his personal
nurse. The equation from the multiplier and multiplicand may provide a total sum for the loss
and damages suffered by Ahmad.

References

Ahmad, W. A. (Aug 2019). Malaysian Tort Law Student Edition ((Student Edition) ed.). Sweet &

Maxwell.

Azmi, A. (Ed.). (2021). Norchaya Talib on Torts in Malaysia (Student Edition ed.). Sweet &

Maxwell.

P S Ranjan & Co. (2021, January). MULTIPLIER: Assessment of Damages. P S Ranjan & Co.

Advocates & Solicitors. Retrieved June 8, 2024, from

https://www.psranco.com/index.php?type=articles&act=details&ref=12

Talib, N. (2010). Law of Torts in Malaysia (3rd ed.). Sweet & Maxwell.

SURENDRAN A/I JAYA SEELAN v UMAR BIN ARDI & ANOR [2022] MLJU 2189

Mohd Shahril bin Abdul Rahman v Ahmad Zulfendi bin Anuar [2021] MLJU 1121

Muhammad Shaiful Azril bin Samsor v Suphattra a/p Visal & Anor [2022] MLJU 2038