The Federal Court is expected to hear Tuesday (15 July) strenuous arguments by the government to overturn an earlier Court of Appeal decision to allow 184 pig farmer affected by the Nipah disaster a decade ago to sue the government for negligence.

The appeal was supposed to be heard Monday (14 July) but counsel for the farmers asked for it to be heard Tuesday.

The Court of Appeal had decided in favour of the farmers three years ago on 13 May 2005 and directed that the parties go back to the High Court of Kuala Lumpur where the farmers first filed their suit six years ago on March 2002.

In making the Court of Appeal decision, Justice Gopal Sri Ram decided in favour of the pig farmers as he found that a case like this is unfit for disposal (to be struck off) at the preliminary stage without hearing evidence from witnesses from the parties concerned.

The government was unhappy with the decision and applied to the Federal Court for leave to appeal. The Federal Court will only deal with matters which involved important questions of law. The government was subsequently granted leave to appeal.

The Federal Court will now decide whether the Court of Appeal was right to decide in favour of the pig farmers.

As this is the highest court of appeal, should the government win the appeal, this will mean that the farmers’ claims will never be heard in any court.

If the government loses its bid, the farmers’ suit will go back to square one to the High Court for a hearing date to be fixed after six long years.

The case was filed by 184 victims of the the Nipah Virus outbreak in 1999, claiming for losses suffered during the epidemic. The Federal Government together with three state governments; Perak, Selangor and Negri Sembilan) are named as defendants in the suit.

The viral encephalitis outbreak which affected workers in the porcine industry, was caused by a then unknown virus later identified and tagged as Nipah. The outbreak occurred between September 1998 and May 1999. Of the 265 infected, 105 died. The government ordered over one million pigs to be culled to contain the outbreak. It took some eight months to bring the epidemic under control.

The farmers are citing the following grounds for their claims:
. Negligence
. Breach of fiduciary duties and statutory duties
. Fraud
. Unlawful deprivation of fundamental rights
. Acting unlawfully in public office
. Trespass to land, buildings and destroying property and goods.

They are asking for RM136 million for loss of pigs, funeral and medical expenses, and farm damage and unspecified damages, among other things.

They are represented by Ser Choon Ing, Malik Imtiaz Sarwar and R. Sivarasa (now PKR Subang MP). The government is defended by senior Federal Counsel Datuk Mary Lim. (MySinchew)