Civil prison - pay or go to jail

Came back from Pulau Pinang on Friday, rested on Saturday and shot off to Gua Musang, Kelantan on Sunday. 2 application to commit Judgment Debtors to prison was fixed for hearing.

One of the Judgment Debtor addressed the Court seeking that the Order of Court ordering the Judgment Debtors to pay the whole outstanding sum in one payment be set aside as the same was obtained without examination of the Judgment Debtors. After checking the file, the Sessions Judge agreed that there was in fact no examination done and I agreed.

However, I explained that the Judgment Debtors' lawyer was informed of the date but neither the lawyer not the Judgment Debtors turned up in Court on the appointed date and hence the earlier Sessions Judge granted an Order that the whole judgment sum be paid in one lump sum.

The Judge was steadfast with his view that the Debtor ought to be examined to which I said I was amenable but I explained to the Judge that if an examination is carried out and an instalments Order is made, the new order will run smack against the earlier Order which is good until set aside. I also explained that no application to aside the earlier Order has been made and neither can the Court set aside the earlier Order ex debito justitae. On this point, the Sessions Judge agreed with me and decided that no examination will be carried out and the earlier Order stands.

The Sessions Judge then went on to explain the consequences of not paying and gave the Debtor till April to pay or go to jail. 

Today, I got a call from my client saying that the Judgment Debtors are in the process of selling some plots of their land and will pay the Judgment sum of slightly more than RM145,000-00 very soon.

One more file successfully closed