SINGAPORE Law and Practice Contributed by: Benedict Teo, Kelvin Tan, Kong Man Er and Shumin Lin, Drew & Napier LLC
6.6 Third Parties and Injunctive Relief An injunction prohibiting the disposal of assets can be obtained to restrain a third party from removing or dealing with the defendant’s assets that are known or believed to be in the hands of a third party, and if there are grounds for believing that the assets may be disposed of to avoid execution. 6.7 Consequences of a Respondent’s Non- Compliance A party that fails to comply with the terms of an injunc- tion may be in contempt of court, which is punishable by a fine of up to SGD100,000 or imprisonment for up to three years, or both, unless the party shows that the non-compliance was wholly or substantially attribut- able to an honest and reasonable failure to understand the obligation imposed on that party and that the party ought fairly to be excused. Trials are typically held in public before a single judge. The claimant will first need to file the Notice for Set- ting Down Action for Trial. The parties will file and exchange the affidavits of the factual and expert wit- nesses well before the trial. Bundles of documents and opening statements will be exchanged just before the trial. The trial judge will give directions for the con- duct of the trial. At the trial, the opening statements are frequently tak- en to be read, although the court sometimes requests oral opening statements, after which the parties will usually present their evidence. 7. Trials and Hearings 7.1 Trial Proceedings Generally, the first party to proceed is the claimant, unless the burden of proof in the case lies with the defendant. Witnesses (and their evidence) are admit- ted by conducting examination-in-chief, during which the witnesses confirm their identities and that the evi- dence deposed to in their affidavits is accurate. There- after, the opposing side’s advocate will cross-examine that witness. A witness who has been cross-examined may be re-examined by the advocate of the party that called the witness, but only on matters that were dealt
with in cross-examination. Leading questions may be asked only during cross-examination. Once the claimant’s witnesses have been examined, the claimant may close its case. If there is more than one claimant, they will present their cases in the order in which they appear on the record. Upon conclusion of the claimant’s case, the defendant may elect to submit that there is no case to answer – ie, that the claimant has not established a sufficient case for the defendant to answer. If no such submission is made, the defendant will be called upon to present its case. Examination-in-chief, cross-examination and re-examination of the defendant’s witnesses will then take place. Once all the evidence has been adduced, the defendant will close its case. A judge does not typically interfere with the manner in which parties conduct their cases; any interference will only arise out of a necessity to ensure that the appropriate trial procedures and rules of evidence are complied with. At the end of the trial, the trial judge will either deliv- er judgment immediately or reserve judgment to be delivered on a future date. If the judgment is reserved, the trial judge will also usually give directions for the filing of written closing and reply submissions. Direc- tions for oral submissions are also sometimes given. 7.2 Case Management Hearings Case Conferences After the commencement of proceedings and before the trial, the court will usually direct the parties to attend a case management conference known as a “case conference” (CC), heard by a registrar. The first CC is usually scheduled eight weeks after the origi- nating process is issued in a case where the defend- ant is to be served in Singapore, or 12 weeks after the originating process is issued in a case where the originating process is to be served out of Singapore. The registrar will inform parties of the date of the CC and case management framework. Complex or high- value cases identified in accordance with the State Courts Practice Directions 2021 will use the Specially Managed Civil List framework, which contains a more
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