Taman Sri Muda residents win suit against govt, others over 2021 floods

Fifty residents of Taman Sri Muda won a lawsuit against the government and others for negligence and breach of statutory duty over the 2021 floods which claimed 12 lives.

At the Shah Alam High Court today, Judicial Commissioner Shoba Rajah said the residents established their claim on a balance of probabilities against the government and two state agencies.

“The court holds that the plaintiffs established a foreseeable duty of care arising from the defendants’ (government) operational functions and disaster management responsibilities.

“The defence’s ‘act of God’ argument is inapplicable where reasonable human intervention was available. Negligence has been established. Foreign doctrines of immunity are irrelevant under Malaysian law,” she said.

The court said the National Disaster Management Agency “failed to escalate disaster response, maintain a central coordination hub and deploy the Special Malaysia Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team effectively” during the floods.

“The authorities failed to manage the incident scene effectively, leaving search and rescue efforts largely to NGOs and members of the local community,” said Shoba.

She also said the meteorological department failed to issue timely warnings at the appropriate danger level despite its forecast indicating that the relevant thresholds had been met.

The court held the Selangor irrigation and drainage department (JPS) and Shah Alam City Council (MBSA) jointly liable with the federal government.

It fixed Oct 6 for case management to set a hearing date for the assessment of damages.

The 50 residents were represented by lawyers James Joshua Paulraj, Regine Ng, Ahmad Badri Mustaffa, M Gobinath and P Taneswaran.

Senior federal counsel Al-Saifi Hashim, Nurul Farhana Khalid and Liew Horng Bin appeared for the federal government, while state legal counsel Faris Shah Kamarulzaman and lawyer Norazalina Hairuddin represented JPS and MBSA respectively.