Some years ago a client came to me with a debt of more than RM 1 million owed to him by an agriculture company.
Upon a preliminary case analysis, I identified that my client's debt was in fact time-barred as the invoices were from more than 6 years ago.
At this point, most lawyers would have just told him that he had no claim and turned him away.
But being the relentless debt recovery enthusiast that I am; I told him:
"It's a long shot, but do you still have the guy's WhatsApp?"
We crafted a casual message in Mandarin together (debtor was a mandarin speaker):
"Bro, those invoices you owed me back then... still planning to pay or not?"
He sent it. We didn't expect a reply.
But lo and behold, a few hours later, the debtor replied:
“Long time no see bro, times are tough. But I haven't forgotten it. I just need more time.”
In the words of Miss Singapore 2009 Ris Low:
**Boomz**
S. 26 Limitation Act 1953 - fresh acknowledgement of debt - 6 year limitation period restarted.
If the guy had just kept quiet and denied everything, he effectively could’ve legally walked away with a million-ringgit discount.
But because he admitted the debt in writing - my Client's rights to the debt had effectively been revived.
Moral of the story: even "dead" debts can sometimes come back to life if you know how and where to poke.
Rudi Cheu (rudi@rulecolaw.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
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