Court affirms Chang as a vexatious litigant

KUALA LUMPUR: Lawyer Matthias Chang is affirmed as a vexatious litigant in respect of a claim over American Express (M) Sdn Bhd (Amex).

The Federal Court has refused to grant leave to Chang to appeal against the decision of the Court of Appeal, which affirmed a High Court decision declaring him a vexatious litigant.

A five-man panel chaired by Court of Appeal president Justice Raus Sharif has dismissed an application by Matthias for leave to appeal against an appelate court decision.

This ruling will prevent Chang, the expolitical secretary to former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, from filing further claims against Amex without getting leave from the court.

High Court Judicial Commissioner Dr Prasad Sandosham Abraham had in July last year declared Chang as a “vexatious litigant”.

Amex had filed the application on March 5, 2010 to get the declaration.

Amex lawyer Prakash Menon was quoted as saying the High Court could grant the declaration if the applicant (Amex) could prove the defendant had persistently and habitually filed claims against the same or different people without reasonable cause.

Yesterday, Prakash told The Star that the Federal Court had held that there were no issue of law to be determined by the apex court in the matter.

“It is all based on facts of the case. The court ruled that Matthias did not satisfy the provisions of Section 96 (a) of the Courts of the Judicature Act to grant leave to the appellant,” said Prakash.