Can you get paid BEFORE you win a lawsuit? A Bernama reporter proved the answer is YES

The effects of an accident can range from a scratch on the bumper to serious bodily injuries. In the latter situation, expensive medical treatment may be needed and sometimes the guy who causes the accident is liable to pay for the treatment.

However before you get that money for your medical bills, you probably have to sue guy in court and win. And even after you win, you’re not gonna get that money immediately. There are things you have to do to enforce the court’s judgement and this can possibly take a long time and you may need the medical money A.S.A.P.

[READ MORE: If you win a lawsuit in Malaysia, how do you make sure you get paid?]

Fortunately, there are methods provided by Malaysian law to get paid early before the judgement itself. In fact a Bernama journalist found that out for himself….

When he sued Monorail

As much as we’d like to sue public transportation companies for sometimes causing us to arrive late at work - Bernama journalist David Chelliah had to sue Monorail for a more tragic reason. Mr. Chelliah was involved in an incident where a monorail wheel hit him while he was standing under an elevated track. 

Mr. Chelliah sued Monorail Technologies Sdn Bhd for RM5 million alleging that their carelessness basically caused his injuries. But here’s the thing, he asked the court for RM250k early because he needed money for his medical treatments.

While it’s normal to think that Mr. Chelliah deserves some money to get his medical treatments done, we also have to consider the fact that his case wasn’t technically over when he asked for the money. This means that it’s possible the court hasn’t concluded who committed the wrong, and whether they should pay for the losses caused yet. In other words, asking for this early payment isn’t just premature but possibly unfair.

Nevertheless because of this, the courts don’t simply give out early payments (legally called interim payment). There are some requirements to be satisfied before such things can be done and they’re laid out in Order 22A Rule 3 of the Rules of Court, with the first being…

This requirement is pretty straightforward because the person you sued basically raises the white flag in court. And in such situations, it basically means that the person MAY definitely have to pay you anyways at the end of trial.

As we mentioned earlier, if you win in court it doesn’t mean that you get handed a cheque or a bag of cash immediately. You will have to wait for the court to calculate how much money you won, and then wait again for the money to get to you.

But in essence you already won, you just don’t know how much you’ve won yet. And in this kinda situation, it’s possible that the court may allow you an early payment if you need one.

Things get a little complicated here, because as mentioned you get paid when you win. Here, the court is gonna order early payment if it’s highly possible you’re gonna be the winner anyways. But having chances of winning doesn’t mean you’re definitely gonna win either, so there are cases determining how the courts are to go about this.

So in David Chelliah’s case, the court said this would happen when the court balances out the stories on both sides (the person suing and the defendant) and sees if all the circumstances are in favour of the person suing. 

Another approach was suggested, of Josu Engineering v TSR Bina (2014), which concerned a request for early payment due to breach of contract -  the court said that a person would have a high chance of winning the case if the defendant has no defence anyways. Which means that the defendant has no circumstances which allows a defence for himself.

But here’s the thing, even if any one of these 3 requirements under Order 22A are satisfied, the courts wouldn’t simply give out early payments unless…

The person you’re suing has enough money to pay up

In addition to possibly not knowing if the person you’re suing is in the wrong, there are other problems that arise when asking a defendant to pay up early. Like for example, what’s the point of asking for early payment if the defendant doesn’t have the money to pay in the first place?

Well because of this, Order 22A Rule 3 also says that an early payment can only be asked against these types of defendants…

This would cover a situation where if the person you’re suing loses, he wouldn’t be the one paying you but someone else (like an insurance company). In such situations, the court if it deems necessary can order an early payment to made.

Here, the law covers a situation where the wrong was committed by a body linked to the government or they provide a public service. 

Quite similar to Mr Chelliah’s situation when he sued Monorail, who provided a public transportation service for the government. 

When it comes to explaining a situation where a defendant has money to pay up early, this one is probably the easiest. This basically means, the person you’re suing is rich enough to fork out the cash.

There are other methods to finish your case early and get paid

If you’re ever in a position where you needed money quick and perhaps maybe the court didn’t allow to get early payment because you didn’t satisfy the necessary requirements, you don’t have to worry because that’s not the only way to get your case done quickly.

The Malaysian courts have come up with a few ways to deal with cases where the person you sue doesn’t wanna show up or defend his case, or where his defence his so weak you might as well win straight away. We’ve actually discussed this matter in a previous article, so if you wanna know more just click here. 

Oh and if you’re wondering what happened to Mr Chelliah’s request for early payment, the court sided with him and allowed it. But they didn’t give him the RM 250k he wanted, they thought it was too excessive and awarded him RM 50k early payment instead.