Mendis v. Pfizer – sllr 1988 volume 1 page 204

In the case between Mendis (Appellant) and Pfizer Ltd. (Respondent), the court addressed whether the seizure and sequestration of the business known as Victory Pharmacy under a mandate issued pursuant to section 653 of the Civil Procedure Code was duly authorized, particularly considering the transfer of ownership and the scope of the court’s order. It was held that the mandate, when properly interpreted as a whole, authorized the seizure of both the business and its goods under valid judicial sanction. The decision reaffirmed the principle that both the recitals and the operative portion of a judicial mandate must be read together to ascertain the true scope of the authority conferred, and that proper judicial sanction precludes liability for damages absent evidence of malice. This determ