Suriyadi Halim Omar JCA:

[1] The 13 pages Statement of Claim, reduced to the following, had stated inter alia, that in or around early March 1997 the defendant (hereinafter referred to as the appellant), its staff and or agent had commenced construction works extensively on a project site. Amongst the construction works carried out on the said site were piling works. Next door was the plaintiffs' (hereinafter referred to as the respondents) house. Due to that negligent construction work, the respondents' house suffered structural damage, resulting in cracks appearing on the floor, walls, columns and beams of the property. All these damages had threatened the respondents' safety and the occupants of the said house (hereinafter referred to as the property).

[2] The particulars of negligence were, amongst others, failure to make any or any sufficient inspection of the land before commencing the construction work including the piling works, failure to take any sufficient steps to ensure the safety of the occupants or property bordering the construction area, failure to stop and or postpone the piling works or construction even though they had knowledge regarding the damage inf