Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali JCA:

Introduction

[1] These appeals arose from 10 writ actions commenced by the respondent, each against a different but related appellant company, all of which suits were jointly tried at the High Court where the learned High Court Judge allowed the claims of the respondent as the plaintiff, and dismissed the respective counterclaims filed by three of the 10 appellants as the defendants, all of whom now appealed against the said decisions. We heard the 10 appeals together, by way of remote communication technology via Zoom. We allowed the appeal in part in respect of the main claim as well as the counterclaims.

Key Background Facts

[2] The dispute was between individuals related by marriage, revolved around the control of company businesses and appeared to have manifested itself in the fall out following the death of the family patriarch, Tan Sit Seng @ Lim Yen Siew who had founded the main business entity, Sit Seng & Sons Realty Sdn Bhd ("Sit Seng & Sons"), also one of the appellants herein, way back on 9 November 1979, with subsidiaries in Peninsular Malaysia and in East Malaysia. Yap Keat Choon, the plaintiff at the High Court and the respondent now