A fun road trip by 30 motorbike enthusiasts turned ugly when two of them had an accident.

One biker, Ms Nursurya Saleha Ibrahim, 24, who had a fracture and other injuries, sued the other, Mr Isjamadiryanto Yanto Wakiman, 28.

Her claims included $4,200 for bike repairs, $750 for medical treatment, and a yet-to-be-assessed sum for loss of earnings and allowances from her job as a nurse, said her lawyer, Mr Nicholas Aw.

Last month, District Judge Kathryn Low ruled that Mr Yanto was 100 per cent liable for the accident. The amount of compensation will be decided later. Mr Yanto has appealed against the decision.

The accident happened on 16 Apr 2006, when the members of the Bikerzkorner Club were returning from a charity event in Rawang, in Selangor, Malaysia.

According to court documents,Ms Nursurya claimed that she and Mr Yanto were riding on the same lane of the highway when he sped ahead and skidded.

He fell, leaving his bag in her path and causing her motorcycle to hit it.

She was flung off and landed on some grass near the road shoulder.

She suffered a fractured right collar bone and a minor head injury.

She was in hospital for three days and on medical leave for more than two months.

Mr Yanto's version was that the rider of one of the motorcycles in front of him had braked abruptly.

He followed suit, and, he claimed, suddenly felt a knock from the rear.

He argued that it was highly likely that Ms Nursurya's motorcycle had collided into his, as he had seen her in his rear view mirror, diagonally behind him, just before the accident.

Mr Yanto, whose fall left him unconscious, claimed Ms Nursurya was negligent as she knocked into his motorcycle from behind.

He also claimed that the brakes on her bike were not working properly. The day before the accident, she had ridden pillion with another biker as she suspected the brakes were faulty.

So he claimed the bike's registered owner, Mr Muhammad Nursamfaizal, had been negligent in ensuring the brakes were in order, thus contributing to the accident.

But Ms Nursurya explained that when she was riding pillion, she got another member of the group, who was a former vehicle technician, to ride her bike to test it.

The technician, who was one of the witnesses, said he checked the brakes and felt they were not faulty, and she simply might not have braked hard enough.

BRAKES WERE OK

The same technician rode the damaged motorcycle back from the accident site on the same day. He said the brakes were still functioning properly after the accident.

In her written judgement, the judge concluded that based on the accounts of the witnesses and Mr Yanto's vehicle report after the accident, the damage on his motorbike was not consistent with it having been hit from the rear.

The damage was mostly on the front and rear of the left side.

The judge noted that Mr Yanto did not mention Ms Nursurya's supposed collision in his report to the Malaysian traffic police.

Also, Mr Yanto had admitted that he was travelling at 90-100kmh at the time of the accident. It would be reasonable to conclude that at such a speed, if he had jammed on his brakes, the motorcycle would skid on its own without another one hitting it.

And as Mr Yanto's motorcycle must have been only slightly ahead of Ms Nursurya's, the judge felt there would have been no opportunity for her to avoid colliding with it.