Justice Mary Lim, who led a three-member bench, said the applicant’s questions of law failed to cross the threshold set by Section 96 of the Courts of Judicature Act 1964.

An applicant must satisfy the Federal Court that the proposed appeal contains novel legal or constitutional questions of public importance which are being raised for the first time.

Sitting with Lim were Justices Nordin Hassan and Abu Bakar Jais.

Last December, Putrajaya framed seven questions in an attempt to have the merits of the appeal heard by the Federal Court.

One key question put forward was whether aggrieved parties can rely entirely on the findings of a coroner to prove a negligence claim in a civil court.

Another question posed by the government was whether a coroner in an inquest proceeding conducted under Section 337 of the Criminal Procedure Code could impose civil liability on a party.

The government also asked whether evidence given by a doctor who was not specialised in a particular field of medicine amounted to an expert opinion.

Lim today also directed that the High Court in Shah Alam conduct an assessment of damages suffered by the family members of businessman S Thanabalan who had brought the suit.

On Oct 30 last year, a three-member bench chaired by Justice Lee Swee Seng ruled that Thanabalan’s widow, V Santhi, and father, P Vathian, had sufficiently discharged their burden of proof on the totality of evidence.

Lee, who sat with Justices Supang Lian and Azhahari Kamal Ramli, said an award of aggravated damages was justified as Thanabalan had been denied timely access to medical attention.

The award was also made due to the deplorable conditions of the lock-up which saw Thanabalan detained in a cramped cell with no access to clean water.

He said a post-mortem report certified Thanabalan’s cause of death as leptospirosis, which is normally associated with the consumption of food and water infected with the leptospira bacteria found in rat urine.

On Dec 21, 2020, coroner Rofiah Mohamad ruled that police negligence led to Thanabalan’s death.

She said forensics confirmed that Thanabalan had myocardial bridging — a heart condition that normally does not cause death.

Rofiah said the detainee had possibly died either at the Shah Alam police headquarters or on the way to the hospital because he was brought in dead.

Thanabalan died in police custody on April 17, 2018.

The inquest into his death started in 2019.

Lawyers M Visvanathan, V Sanjay Nathan and V Pushan Qin Nathan represented Santhi and Vathian.

Senior federal counsel Zeti Zurina Kamaruddin and Siti Syakimah Ibrahim as well as federal counsel Ashraf Abd Hamid appeared for the government.