Abdul Malik Ishak JCA

(delivering the ex tempore judgment of the court):

This is an ex tempore judgment of this court.

We will refer the parties as the plaintiffs and the defendants like what they were referred to by the High Court.

At the outset, the plaintiffs withdrew their claim against the second defendant (Kementerian Kesihatan Malaysia) and the High Court judge forthwith struck out the plaintiffs’ claim against the second defendant.

The defendants filed an application to strike out the plaintiffs’ writ of summons and the statement of claim under O 18 r 19 of the Rules of the High Court 1980 (‘RHC’) and under the inherent jurisdiction of the court. In due course, the High Court dismissed the defendants’ application and they now appeal to this court.

It is trite law that only in plain and obvious cases that recourse should be had to the summary process of striking out pleadings under O 18 r 19 of the RHC (per Abdul Hamid Omar CJ (Malaya) (later the Lord President of the Supreme Court) in Sim Kie Chon v Superintendent of Pudu Prison & Ors

The power to strike out is a drastic power and should be exercised with utmost caution (per Lee Hun Hoe CJ (Borneo) in Lee Nyan Choi v Voon Noo