Hashim Yeop Sani FJ:

We have disposed of this appeal but we feel that a short written judgment would be in order.

The appeal before the learned Judge was against the decision of the learned President of the Sessions Court, Johor Bahru in respect of the awards of general and special damages. Thus the appeal before the High Court and before us was an appeal against quantum only.

The action in the Sessions Court was commenced by the mother of the deceased who had died in a motor accident. In his written judgment [1984] 1 MLJ 377 the learned Judge sitting in appellate jurisdiction had set out the background of this appeal chronologically and for convenience we will simply reproduce the excerpts from his judgment as follows:

3. The Summons was served on 28 July 1979. The case was first mentioned on 16 August 1979. By the second mention date on 30 August 1979 no defence had been filed and an Order was made precluding the defendant from defending the action.

4. Thereafter the case was fixed for hearing to assess the damages to be paid.

5. However, the case was not proceeded with on 4 October 1979 because plaintiff had gone to Canada. It was adjourned to 7 February 1980. On that d