A
creditor who brings a case to
Court must be prepared to incur costs and expenses, not all of which may be recoverable
from the opposite party. Solicitor’s fees and their expenses will have to be paid.
The litigant may incur other expenses such as court fees and witnesses’ allowances
and expenses. The cost and expenses of suing should be considered at all stages of the
proceedings; good money should not be thrown after bad.
If the
debtor is insolvent, it is not worthwhile to pursue the claim. The debtor’s financial
position should be confirmed. There is no advantage to sue a debtor where he or his assets
are not easily traced. If necessary, carry out a
check on our CREDIT
WATCH, with CTOS,
ROC CHECK, ROB CHECK,
BANKRUPTCY SEARCH, RECEIVERSHIP & WINDING-UP SEARCH, etc. before any legal
actions.
The
question to sue or not to sue, to continue an action or to discontinue is one which is not
always decided solely on grounds of law. Questions of expediency and principles of sound
financial management may be more relevant than the legal merits of a claim.
The court
puts limits on how much the winning side can get in legal costs. There are good reasons
for this. There would be little point in having a hierarchy of courts (Magistrates,
Session, High and Federal) if all the courts handled cases of any size, and allowed
similar costs.
The
Magistrates’ Court handles cases less than a certain amount and has a correspondingly
modest scale of allowable fees. This means that if your lawyer’s bill runs over the
Court scale by say RM250, you cannot claim the RM250 from the debtor if you win the case.
You are RM$250 poorer, no matter what.
Mind you,
there are complicated trials in the Magistrates’ Court. Sometimes the case requires
to call for witnesses and the trial might go on for months all over a debt of just
RM12,000. Such a thing might happen, for example if the debtor was getting legal aid.
“Why worry?” he might think. “My costs are all covered. What can I
lose?” (Actually, if he did lose, he would have to pay the Court’s scale costs
to you only. Legal aid would not cover that.)
In the
higher courts, the costs themselves can become a bomb. For example, a ‘small’
dispute of RM20,000 could eventually get appealed to the Federal Court, with cost that
might soar to ten times that on each side. Both sides are now in so deep and they are
worried about the legal costs. They want to win and collect the costs back from the loser.
Stuff the RM20,000! Just save me from my lawyer’s bills!
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