The panel, led by Justice Ravinthran Paramaguru, dismissed Ridzuan Abd Rahman’s appeal yesterday, saying he “failed to prove on the balance of probabilities the existence of the pothole at the time of the accident”.

“We are not minded to interfere with this finding of facts for the same reason given by the High Court,” Ravinthran said, in delivering the court’s unanimous decision.

Other judges who heard Ridzuan’s appeal were Justices Hashim Hamzah and Azimah Omar.

The panel ordered him to pay RM5,000 in costs to PLUS.

Ridzuan filed the lawsuit before the Selayang sessions court in August 2019, seeking RM666,699.73 in damages for his injuries.

He claimed that PLUS was negligent in maintaining its highway and that this had caused him to fall.

The lawsuit was dismissed by both the sessions court and High Court.

Ridzuan was represented by lawyers Harjinder Singh, Saufi Samsudin and Nur Liyana Zapawi while Siva Shanker Soorianarayanan appeared for PLUS.

Siva later told FMT that during the trial, the court heard testimonies from PLUS officers who were patrolling the highway on Dec 5, 2015.

“They said there was no hole during the material time, and that they had asked the plaintiff (Ridzuan) how he sustained injuries.

“The plaintiff had told them at that time that he hit a divider at the exit,” he said.