KUALA LUMPUR, June 18 -- The owner of Maydan Trading has failed in his suit against celebrity Nur Fazura, or her real name, Nur Faizura Shariffudin, and Universal Music Sdn Bhd for alleged breach of contract after the actress and singer launched her health and beauty product ‘Trudolly’ while the contract was still in effect.
Judge Datuk Mohd Firuz Jaffril struck out the suit filed by plaintiff Narhamdan Abd Malek on the grounds that the court found there was no breach of contract between the plaintiff and Nur Fazura as the first defendant.
“The contract in this case only involved the plaintiff and the second defendant, namely, Universal Music. The plaintiff’s claim there was an alleged breach of contract was inaccurate because the contract in question had been ended by the plaintiff himself,” he said.
Mohd Firuz said the statement from the plaintiff's witnesses also clearly showed that Nur Fazura, who was appointed (by Maydan Trading) as the ambassador for 'Q Tab' hair, skin and nail health product, had carried out her duty to promote the product.
“The testimony of another witness of the plaintiff, an officer in the pharmaceutical division, also stated that the product marketed by the plaintiff was illegal because it contained prohibited ingredients. This means that the plaintiff had marketed an illegal product which had resulted the contract to be invalidated.
“Since a contract is defined as invalid, the loss suffered by the plaintiff is considered as out-of-pocket expenses (belanja hangus). As such, the suit filed by the plaintiff is dismissed with costs,” he ruled after hearing testimonies from three plaintiffs’ witnesses and four defendants’ witnesses including Nur Fazura.
Judge Mohd Firuz also ordered the plaintiff to pay RM40,000 in costs to each defendant.
On Dec 16, 2017, Narhamdan who owned and sold Q Tab, a health product in the form of chewable candy, sued Nur Fazura, as the first defendant and Universal Music as the second defendant.
In his suit, the plaintiff claimed that he had entered into a contract with Universal Music on Aug 10, 2017, for Nur Fazura to market the Q Tab product over a six-month period on social media, specifically on her Instagram account.
She was also required to be featured in photographs and videos for use by the plaintiff in the marketing of the product.
The plaintiff claimed that after the agreement for the service of the first defendant (Nur Fazura) was signed on August 10, 2017, he had paid RM100,000 to the second defendant (Universal Music) and another RM56,000 was paid on August 24 of the same year, according to the agreed terms of the contract.
However, the plaintiff claimed that in late September, 2017 the artiste launched and marketed a separate health and beauty product called ‘Trudolly TruBeauty’ by Fazura’ while the contract was still in effect.
Narhamdan claimed that contract was breached when Nur Fazura and Universal Music marketed the Trudolly in competition with the Q Tab product, he claimed he experienced a loss when the marketing of his product was neglected and was in Trudolly’s favour. This caused less sale for Q Tab.
Accordingly, the plaintiff, among others, demanding the return of RM156,000 from both defendants, as well as damages amounting RM141,755.61 for breach of contract with interest and costs.
Meanwhile, Nur Fazura in her defence filed on Jan 29, 2018, claimed that she had never entered into any agreement with the plaintiff, was not bound and did not have any contractual agreement with the plaintiff.
In the meantime, Nur Fazura, accompanied by her husband, Fattah Amin or his real name Abdul Fattah Mohd Amin, expressed her gratitude as the court to rule in her favour.
“This case has been going on for over two years and during that period I was accused of breaching a contract. Clearly, the court has proven the contract was invalid and it was also stated that the product is illegal, and what were claimed by the plaintiff are baseless and untrue.
“I am thankful everything is settled and justice eventually sided with me. I have learned a lesson from what had transpired. The Trudolly product too has got nothing to do with this case,” she said, adding that today’s court ruling was a gift from God for their child expected to be born in October.
In today’s proceeding, Nur Fazura was represented by lawyer Fakhrul Azman Abu Hassan while Universal Music was represented by lawyer Wilson Lim and Narhamdan was represented by counsel Dzaki Ezwan Baharin.
-- BERNAMA
