KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 29 — A used car dealer today lost his suit against the Road Transport Department (RTD) and three others over the transaction of ownership of a stolen car.
High Court judge Rosilah Yop dismissed Cheah Kuai Wah’s suit against the RTD and its employee Masuri Othman, police and the government with RM30,000 in costs.
The judge made the decision in chambers after hearing the full trial of the suit.
Cheah’s lawyer, Lim Lip Eng, told reporters that the judge held that the plaintiff (Cheah) had no locus standi to bring the suit against the four defendants.
“He had no locus standi as his name was never registered as an owner of the car,” he said, adding that he would file an appeal over today’s verdict.
In his statement of claim filed on February 6 this year, Cheah said that on March 9, 2010 he bought a Toyota Camry from a seller for RM126,500 without knowing it was a stolen car.
Cheah claimed that he found out that the car was a stolen vehicle when police seized it on January 14, 2011 after he had sold it to another used car dealer, who later sold it to a customer.
In the suit, Cheah said a check with the RTD and police revealed that the seller was the registered owner of the car and that it was free of any transaction of ownership.
He claimed that Masuri had been negligent when registering the transfer of the ownership of the car to him while the JPJ had failed to show in its computerised system that the car was actually a stolen vehicle.
Cheah is seeking RM203,316 in special damages, general and exemplary damages, costs and other relief deemed fit by the court.
The defendants, in their statement of claim, countered that Cheah’s name was never registered as the registered owner of the car, therefore he had no locus standi to bring the action against them. — Bernama
