Case Update: Accent Delight International Ltd v Bouvier, Yves Charles Edgar [2016] SGHC 40 – forum non conveniens; non-availability of substantive claims under foreign law

Accent Delight International Ltd v Bouvier, Yves Charles Edgar [2016] SGHC 40

Significance: High Court held on application of Spiliada principles and the doctrine of forum non conveniens that Singapore proceedings should not be stayed in favour of Switzerland because, among other reasons, the plaintiffs may not be able to pursue their substantive claims under Swiss law. The Court also considered that the purported disadvantages of having the dispute determined in Singapore are neutralised by having the dispute heard in the Singapore International Commercial Court.

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March 24, 2016

Case Update: Alvin Nicholas Nathan v Raffles Assets (Singapore) Pte Ltd [2016] SGCA 18 – damages for premature termination of lease agreement

Significance: Singapore Court of Appeal clarifies the legal and conceptual basis for awarding and quantifying damages pursuant to a breach of a lease agreement. Court held that claims for expectation and reliance losses as damages for breach of contract are mutually exclusive.

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March 17, 2016March 17, 2016

Legislation Update: Amendment of Mental Capacity Act

The Mental Capacity (Amendment) Bill, Bill No. 11/2016 was passed on 14 March 2016. The key changes are:

(1) allowing the appointment of professional donees and deputies;

(2) better protection of individuals lacking mental capacity from abuse or exploitation by donees or deputies by expanding the grounds for a court to revoke an LPA or appointment of deputy;

(3) to clarify the protection of donees, third parties who deal with donees and purchasers claiming through the third parties where donees and third parties did not know that the LPA or power under the LPA is non-existent, revoked or suspended;

(4) improve operations of the Office of the Public Guardian which oversees the Act.

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March 17, 2016

Case Update: Public Prosecutor v Chua Siew Wei Kathleen [2016] SGHC 33

Public Prosecutor v Chua Siew Wei Kathleen [2016] SGHC 33

Significance: Singapore High Court orders retrial of criminal matter as it found that the trial judge: (1) had unfairly restricted the ambit of the prosecution’s cross-examination and impeded their ability to present their case fully; (2) had also impaired his own ability to evaluate and weigh the case presented by each side; (3) had failed to consider essential pieces of evidence in the course of arriving at his conclusion and had therefore arrived at findings which are, in all the circumstances, against the weight of the evidence.

March 10, 2016March 10, 2016

Case Update: Polo/Lauren Co LP v United States Polo Association [2016] SGHC 32

Polo/Lauren Co LP v United States Polo Association [2016] SGHC 32

Significance: Singapore High Court holds that US Polo Association’s trade mark is not so similar to Polo Lauren’s trade mark.

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March 9, 2016March 9, 2016

Case Update: HSBC Trustee (Singapore) Limited v Carolyn Fong Wai Lyn [2016] SGHC 31

Significance: Singapore High Court interprets will holistically (as opposed to a clause-specific construction), orders estate’s properties to be mortgaged to raise funds for professional trustees’ fees and costs, and refuses to order that trustees be discharged as Court found it was not in the interests of beneficiaries given the ongoing litigation in relation to the estate.

March 9, 2016

Govt-paid Maternity Leave for Self-Employed Persons

In my September 2015 General Election Social Justice Petition Paper, I highlighted the problem of self-employed persons / freelancers being possibly unduly prevented from claiming Government-paid leave. I have since obtained clarification from the Government that such persons will not be prevented from claiming Government-paid maternity leave.

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March 8, 2016November 17, 2020

Case Update: La Dolce Vita Fine Dining Co Ltd v Deutsche Bank AG [2016] SGHCR 3; [2016] SGHC 159 – SGHC orders pre-action discovery against banks to disclose customer account information

Significance: Singapore High Court orders banks to disclose customer account information to plaintiffs in respect of the plaintiffs’ claims against the banks’ customer in an application for pre-action discovery under O 24 r 6(5) and/or the Court’s inherent jurisdiction (i.e. a Norwich Pharmacal order).

The decision was upheld on appeal by Andrew Ang SJ in Success Elegant Trading Ltd v La Dolce Vita Fine Dining Co Ltd and others and another appeal [2016] 4 SLR 1392; [2016] SGHC 159.

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March 8, 2016March 9, 2016

Case Update: A M Mohamud v WM Morrison Supermarkets plc [2016] UKSC 11

A M Mohamud (in substitution for Mr A Mohamud (deceased)) v WM Morrison Supermarkets plc [2016] UKSC 11

Significance: the UK Supreme Court held that an employer was vicariously liable for its employee’s act of causing injury to a customer under the close connection test.

Comment: this decision is significant because under previous applications of the doctrine of vicarious liability, an employer will not be held liable for an employee’s acts which were on his whim and frolic, outside the course of employment, or were unauthorised acts. In this case, the Court extended the analysis of unauthorised modes of authorised acts by the employer to an irrational physical attack as falling within the authorised act of an employee’s interactions with a customer.

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March 6, 2016

Case Update: Nava Bharat (Singapore) Pte Ltd v Straits Law Practice LLC and another and another appeal [2016] SGCA 12 – SGCA dismisses negligence claim against lawyer re advice on cross-border transaction

Significance: Singapore Court of Appeal held that the plaintiff’s solicitors had not been negligent in advising on the legal implications of the plaintiff proceeding with the cross-border transaction to acquire an interest in an Indonesian coal mine based on an oral undertaking given by a 3rd party to obtain a forestry licence.

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