I am fine today. Continue from yesterday…
The judge explained that there are two probabilities that could cause the engine overheat; workshop negligence and driver’s driving behavior. But since I am the claimant, and the workshop is a defendant, the burden of proof lies with me. The workshop owner said that the engine was overheated due to over speeding, and my argument is that the car was driven by a young lady (in fact she is not the one who drive the car :-)) at a rainy night, and thus there should be no over speeding.
But the problem is how am I going to prove that over speeding didn’t happen? I told the judge that it is almost impossible to prove a driver’s driving behavior, which he agreed. With this burden of proof, the claim failed, and this mean I lost the case :-(
The hearing was done in a very relaxing atmosphere. In fact, the session was carried out like a discussion rather than those serious hearing as in the higher courts where you can see the lawyers grilling witnesses. No lawyers are allowed in consumer tribunal court. The claimants and defendants have to defend their cases themselves.
One interesting thing was that we can bring along somebody who can argue the case very well to help us. For example, in this morning hearing, Richard also came forward half way in the hearing, trying to put forward a point, and I was quite surprised that this act was allowed :-)
The judge that was presiding over the cases this morning is young. When he wanted to make the judgment, he always said, “Don’t angry with me ( for making this judgment) .”
“Don’t worry, we abide by your decision,” we responded.
Even though I lost the case, I learned and experienced a lot through the case, thanks to my brother Richard to act as my “legal consultant”. And this time, I really became a troublesome man to the workshop owner; an act that fulfill his prophesy. Remember? When I asked him for a formal quotation for major overhaul, he said that I am a troublesome man and thus he was not interested to service my car.
It is not troublesome for me at all because Richard filed the case for me together with his case. I just have to do some writing to describe the case and then follow Richard to the hearing this morning.
If you encounter a dispute with a value less than RM25,000, try to resolve it through customer tribunal, and I believe you can engage Richard as your consultant :-) Filing the case cost RM5 only.
Take a photo at the tribunal court after the hearing - a happy loser :-) 
See you next post :-)
2 comments:
shucks! that u lost d case...
a car overheats when in jammed traffic, not while speeding, more so if it is raining --- when d car is in motion, cool air is forced thru radiator, thus cooling down the hot temp generated. at that constant rate, engine temp is maintained & shld not overheat. since it was raining, the air is dense & cold...
wonder if any appeal can be entertained...
You are so clever, I missed this point :-( But I knew I am going to lose the case, as in the beginning the judge already biased toward the workshop.
Another point I should raise is the court should adjourn the case and check the drivers record. If she is always speeding, then there must be police summons issued to her due to over speeding.
Can't be help, the judge is young and inexperienced. He couldn't capture the real issue in this case.
Richard told me that a very experienced and older judge was presiding over his earlier case, and the judge was very sharp, and at that time, he was the chairman of the tribunal too. I stand a very high chance to win if the case was heard under him. But the old judge might retired already as I noted that this young judge is the chairman of the tribunal now based on a letter that I received from the tribunal today.
Unfortunately, the only appeal that could be done is through the high court which is too costly to pursue. And in fact, I only "main main" with the workshop owner, because he was so rude and unreasonable :-)
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