A FLAT owner was cleared of defaming a contractor after a judge held that she was not malicious or spiteful in making the offending statement about the firm.

The remarks were contained in an e-mail message that Ms Goh Teng Poh sent to the condominium's developer after she found leaks in her 15th floor flat and felt that the contractor was dragging his feet to fix the problem.

But Ms Goh's motive in making the statement in January last year was to get the leaks fixed and not to injure the contractor, ruled Justice Judith Prakash.

This justified Ms Goh's defence of qualified privilege which applied in the context of the common interest shared by both her developer and herself in the condominium block.

The contractor, Hytech Builders, had sued Ms Goh, 40, seeking damages following the e-mail she sent to Ms Jenny Hong of City Developments (CDL).

Hytech is the main contractor of Emery Point Condominium in Ipoh Lane where Ms Goh lived.

The firm had claimed that her statement would tarnish its business reputation with CDL, a leading real-estate developer here.

In the 32-page judgement released on Tuesday, Justice Prakash said Ms Goh's concern was that if Hytech was in financial difficulties, it would not be able to do the work and she wanted to alert CDL to the situation so that something could be done sooner than later.

Ms Goh had made the remarks based on information from a client from the construction industry without checking the facts for herself.

Justice Prakash said Ms Goh's conduct was 'understandable' and although she was unaware the statements she made at the time were untrue, her intention was not to injure.

Hytech's lawyers from Rajah & Tann said they are 'studying the judgement together with their clients and are likely to appeal'.