Justice Yusrin Faidz Yusoff, in allowing the appeal by Nur Zafirah Bazaredi, 32, and her mother Norliza Mat Hassan, 58, said the sessions court erred in dismissing their lawsuit against the government and JKR last year.

He awarded RM354,120 in special and general damages to Zafirah and RM397,650 to Norliza.

According to the facts of the case, a large tree branch fell on the road and crushed two vehicles on Oct 7, 2017. Zafirah was driving one of the vehicles while her mother was seated beside her.

The mother and daughter subsequently filed a negligence suit against the government, JKR, road maintenance concessionaire Roadcare (M) Sdn Bhd, and the Kuala Terengganu city council.

In his judgment, Yusrin said the lower court wrongly absolved the government and JKR – which own and manage federal roads – from liability.

Yusrin said that the government and JKR, as the road’s owners and administrators, had a duty of care to keep it safe for road users.

“It is incumbent upon them to provide a plausible, non-negligent explanation for the tree’s collapse.

“There was no evidence before the court that routine inspections of the trees were conducted, and in their defence, the government only pointed to the city council as the responsible party.

“The tree fell because the government failed to exercise proper maintenance,” he said.

On the claim against Roadcare, Yusrin said tree maintenance was not within the concessionaire’s scope of work as it was only responsible for clearing debris such as fallen trees to restore traffic flow.