SINGAPORE Law and Practice Contributed by: Benedict Teo, Kelvin Tan, Kong Man Er and Shumin Lin, Drew & Napier LLC
3.8 Requirements for Cost Estimate Legal practitioners have general duties to inform their clients of the basis on which their fees will be charged and other reasonably foreseeable payments.
Service may be validly effected upon a defendant’s lawyer who accepts service on behalf of the client. The court will also give effect to modes of service contractually agreed between parties. See 3.3 Jurisdictional Requirements for a Defend- ant regarding substituted service and service outside Singapore. 3.6 Failure to Respond A defendant that is served with an originating claim must file and serve a notice of intention to contest or not contest the claim within 14 days where the defendant is served in Singapore, and within 21 days where the defendant is served out of Singapore. If the defendant fails to file and serve such a notice or states in the notice that the defendant does not con- test the claim, the claimant may apply for judgment in default. The claimant may also apply for judgment in default where the defendant fails to serve a defence to the statement of claim within 21 days (for service in Singapore) or five weeks (for service outside Sin- gapore). A legal practitioner must not enter a default judgment against a party represented by another legal practitioner unless prior written notice is given at least two working days before default judgment is entered. Default judgment is inapplicable for actions com- menced by originating application. The matter pro- ceeds with no opposing party in attendance. 3.7 Representative or Collective Actions Representative actions are permitted where there are numerous claimants or defendants having the same interest in the proceedings and every member of the group consents to being represented. The court may appoint a representative of a class where members cannot be ascertained. The court retains the discre- tion to discontinue the proceedings where its collec- tive action is less appropriate – for instance, in cases where there are disparate issues or defences raised in respect of members of a class of claimants. No judgment or order can be enforced against any non-party to the proceedings, except with permission of the court.
4. Pre-Trial Proceedings 4.1 Interim Applications/Motions
Interim applications can be made before trial. These are not limited to case management issues and can be applications for interim relief, such as freezing injunctions, search orders and the sale of perishable property. The Singapore Rules of Court 2021 (ROC) seek to achieve the following five “Ideals”, which will guide the court’s exercise of its powers: • fair access to justice; • expeditious proceedings; • cost-effective work proportionate to: (a) the nature and importance of the action; (b) the complexity of the claim as well as the dif- ficulty or novelty of the issues and questions it raises; and (c) the amount or value of the claim; • efficient use of court resources; and • fair and practical results suited to the needs of the parties. In order to achieve the Ideals, interlocutory matters are streamlined under the ROC. As far as possible, the court must order a single application pending trial (SAPT) to be made by each of the parties. The SAPT must deal with all matters that are necessary for the case to proceed expeditiously. The court may direct that the SAPT and supporting and reply affidavits be filed. If appropriate, the court may also order written submissions to be filed with a selection of authorities. The court may also direct parties to file an SAPT Checklist indicating the parties’ preferred sequence of the matters set out in the SAPT, and the court will then issue directions on the SAPT to inform parties of the sequence of the matters to be heard for the respective SAPTs. The SAPTs can be disposed of over several hearings.
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