In its defence, Grabcar Sdn Bhd said the plaintiff’s claim that Grabcar had breached the Federal Constitution and the Road Transport Act (RTA) did not give them a right of action.
It said the plaintiff sued the wrong party and instead should have filed a judicial review and gone after government agencies.
“The claims have no reasonable cause of action or the claims are plainly and obviously frivolous and unsustainable in law,” said the legal papers filed by Messrs Rahmat Lim and Partners yesterday which was sighted by FMT.
Grabcar also denied having operated its business in a manner harmful to consumers and/or indulged in unfair trade practices.
It added there was no finding of infringement by the Malaysian Competition Commission in relation to its conduct as pleaded by the plaintiff.
It said the plaintiff had also failed to detail out any losses they suffered.
“The plaintiff is not entitled to assert any claim for purported liquidated damages under the Contracts Act,” it said, adding that the plaintiff was put to strict proof into the alleged RM100 million losses it suffered in actual damages.
Grabcar said it also reserved the right to strike out the suit filed last month.
It said the amendments to the Land Public Transport Act 2017 (LPTA) and the Commercial Vehicles Licensing Board (Amendment) Act 2017 were gazetted on Nov 30, 2017.
“Both amendments came into force on July 12, 2018. In this regard, e-hailing operators, including the defendant, were given a one-year moratorium by the transport ministry to obtain the intermediation licence under the amended LPTA.”
Grabcar said it obtained the licence on March 28, 2019 and has been operating the same e-hailing business since its incorporation.
“As such, the defendant was not in the business of providing street hail taxi service or car rental services in direct competition with the plaintiff’s members.”
In the suit filed by 15 office bearers of the association on behalf of 10,000 members, the plaintiffs said Grabcar’s activities without a valid licence in the country between 2014 and 2017 amounted to “stealing their business”.
In the statement of claim, it said Grabcar’s activities were in violation of the constitution, the Competition Act 2010 and the amended 2012 RTA.
The plaintiffs further said the e-hailing service was not given any exemption under the Competition Act to carry out the service between May 16, 2014 and July 27, 2017.
“The defendant’s action was in violation of the rights to livelihood, rights and interests of taxi drivers,” they said.
The plaintiffs are asking for liquidated, general, aggravated, exemplary and punitive damages amounting to RM100 million, and they have until Jan 28 to reply to the defence.