This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on March 21, 2019

KUALA LUMPUR: Industrial chemical distributor Nylex (Malaysia) Bhd and Utusan Melayu (Malaysia) Bhd will work together to explore the possibility of settling their legal dispute amicably.

Following the postponement of the case yesterday, lawyer Nurfazreen Hazrina Rahim, who is acting for Utusan, told reporters that both parties will work towards a possible settlement.

“The High Court Judge (Justice Nik Hasmat Nik Mohamad) agreed to postpone today’s (yesterday) hearing pending the outcome of a settlement,” she said.

The matter is fixed for further case management on April 22. “The High Court will then fix another date to deliver the decision on the two applications filed by Nylex previously, if both parties cannot reach any settlement,” she added.

Nylex is seeking a summary judgement from the High Court, and also security for costs to be paid by Utusan before the trial.

Security for costs is where the plaintiff — this case, Nylex — asks the defendant, Utusan, to deposit a certain amount of money to court, should the latter lose the case. A summary judgement, meanwhile, is a decision made on the basis of statements and evidence presented in the legal pleadings and documents filed, without a trial or calling of witnesses.

Nylex, a subsidiary of Ancom Bhd, is suing Utusan for allegedly failing to refund a RM10 million deposit. The deposit was paid to Utusan, based on letters dated Jan 29 and Feb 27 last year, in relation to advertising, branding and communication exercise by the Nylex group of companies through Utusan Malaysia and Mingguan Malaysia.

Lawyer Justin Wee appeared on behalf of Nylex.

Another Ancom subsidiary, Redberry Sdn Bhd, similarly initiated legal action against Utusan to seek the return of an RM8.5 million deposit that was paid to the latter in April last year for a 48-month advertising campaign worth RM10 million.

On Feb 13, Utusan announced that it was appealing a Kuala Lumpur High Court’s ruling in favour of Redberry that was delivered on Feb 11.

“Despite the High Court’s decision, the company’s counterclaim against the plaintiff (Redberry) for, inter alia, the sum totalling RM48.32 million, general damages and exemplary damages under the main suit still subsists, which counterclaim will extinguish the summary judgement obtained by the plaintiff for the sum of RM8.5 million,” Utusan had said in a stock exchange filing.