The 45 house buyers of Taman Bukit Saujana (Springfield Homes) who commenced legal action against their Developer, Yusen Jaya Sdn Bhd in 2006, claiming Late Delivery Damages (LAD) and other claims such as breach of contract, finally received part of the judgement sum that was awarded by the High Court.

The amount involved was the warranty by the developer to the Ministry for the project.

This is believed to be the first time in Sabah that funds held as warranty were handed to buyers.

The Plaintiffs won their suits against the Developer in a landmark decision on Jan 27 2011 together with judgment sum awarded to them. The High Court, awarded for Late Delivery Damages (LAD) a sum of RM305,681.67; and claims for damages for breach of contract:

(i) Quantifiable losses RM1,065,793.00;

(ii) Unquantifiable losses RM3,080,000.00;

(iii) Cost of investigation RM137,989.00.

Hence, the total Judgment sum was RM4,592,372.67. And an 8pc interest p.a. was also imposed from the date of Judgment till the full settlement. However, they were unable to recover the judgment sum from the developer for some six years. As a result, the plaintiffs had to commence new legal action to try to recover the judgment sum awarded by the High Court in the first suit.

According to chairman of the action committee, Yong Sai Khuing, the plaintiffs also sought the assistance of the Minister of Local Government and Housing to recover part of the judgment sum of RM1,338,728.00.

Recently, the Ministry released the said payment to the plaintiffs, as part of the judgment sum awarded in the decision by the court. The recovery of the balance is now in a new action.

All the plaintiffs received the said payments from their lawyer Christina Liew of Messrs C J Liew & Co, on Monday.

The Plaintiffs thanked Liew and her team of lawyers and the team of consultants headed by architect Datuk Ho Jia Lit who appeared in court as expert witnesses in the trial.

They also thanked the minister concerned for his assistance in releasing the said sum to them.

The plaintiffs expressed relief that finally they were able to recover part of the Judgment sum. They are now eagerly looking forward to the balance of the Judgment sum in the new action filed last year.

Article was first published in Daily Express. Click here for more news