Gopal Sri Ram JCA:

There are two appeals before us. They are Civil Appeal No. W-02-248-94 ('the first appeal') and W-02-249-94 ('the second appeal'). Both arise from a decision of the High Court in a personal injury action. Because of the logical sequence of the arguments relevant to the issues before us, we will deal with the appeals in reverse order.

The second appeal is brought by Adnan Hj. Mat Jidin and Normala Ismail who were plaintiffs in the Court below. Irwan Wee Abdullah and Foong Siew Leng who were the defendants in the Court below are respondents in the second appeal. In the first appeal the roles are reversed, the appeal being that of the defendants. For convenience, we will refer to the parties as plaintiffs and defendants and in the order in which they appear in the title to the action.

The facts relevant to both appeals are fairly straightforward and may be shortly stated. On 11 October 1989, the second plaintiff was riding pillion on a motorcycle of which the first plaintiff was the rider. There was a collision between their motor-cycle and a motor car owned by the second defendant and driven by the first defendant who was, at the material time, the husba