Judicial commissioner Azizan Md Arshad said the plaintiff, S Siva Subramaniam, had proved all the ingredients needed for an action in the tort of defamation.

He said the words complained of referred to the plaintiff, were defamatory of him and had been published to third parties.

In arriving at his decision, Azizan also dismissed the defences of justification and qualified privilege put forward by the defendants in their attempt to defeat the suit.

Siva had named Allianz General Insurance, its senior claims manager Frances Joycelyn Nathan and the former head of its claims division, Jayapragash Amblavanar, as defendants in the suit.

Frances, who was under Jayapragash’s supervision, is said to have sent the email to the company’s panel of lawyers on Dec 15, 2017.

The contents of the email, which implied that the plaintiff was a confidence trickster, were found to have damaged the plaintiff’s reputation.

Azizan ordered the defendants to jointly pay Siva general, aggravated and exemplary damages in the sum of RM300,000 together with interest.

He awarded Siva RM50,000 in costs.

The judge also issued an injunction restraining the defendants from publishing further defamatory remarks about Siva.

Filed in February 2018, the suit arose when Siva represented a motorist who was on Nov 1, 2017 awarded damages of about RM500,000 by a session court in Kulim, Kedah, in a negligence suit.

Allianz, as insurer of the motorist who was responsible for the accident, was liable to pay the award.

M Kartini Devi assisted Siva, who appeared in person, while Tan Keng Teck and Harvey Ng Yih Xiang represented the defendants.