SINGAPORE Law and Practice Contributed by: Benedict Teo, Kelvin Tan, Kong Man Er and Shumin Lin, Drew & Napier LLC
There are two potential scenarios where a party may wish to file applications at a time other than as direct- ed by the court for the filing of SAPTs: • where a party is seeking one or more reliefs speci- fied in Order 9 Rule 9 (7) of the ROC, namely: (a) an injunction or a search order; (b) substituted service; (c) service out of Singapore; (d) setting aside service of an originating process; (e) judgment in default of a notice of intention to contest or not contest an originating claim; (f) judgment in default of defence; (g) summary judgment; (h) striking out of the whole of an action or de- fence; (i) stay of the whole action; (j) stay of enforcement of a judgment or order; (k) an enforcement order; (l) permission to appeal; (m) transfer of proceedings under the State Courts Act; (n) setting aside third-party proceedings; or (o) permission to make an application for a com- mittal order; or • where court permission has been obtained for an application to be filed – permission must be sought by a letter to court setting out the essence of the intended application and why it is necessary at that stage of the proceedings. No application may be taken out during the period starting 14 days before the commencement of the trial and ending when the court has determined the merits of the action, except in a special case and with the trial judge’s approval. 4.2 Early Judgment Applications A party can apply for early judgment through the sum- mary judgment procedure. A summary judgment application has to be made no later than 28 days after the date of service of the defence or defence to counterclaim. The application has to be made by way of a summons supported by affidavits containing all the evidence that is neces- sary or material to the claim. The defendant can file rebuttal affidavits within 14 days after service, with a
further right of reply by the claimant within 14 days after service of the defendant’s affidavits. The claimant bears the burden of showing a prima facie case for summary judgment. If this is met, the defendant must establish a fair or reasonable prob- ability that the defence is real or bona fide. A party can apply to strike out an unmeritorious claim or defence on the ground that it: • discloses no reasonable cause of action or defence; The viability of a striking-out application in respect of the whole of an action or defence should be consid- ered at the time of submission of the SAPT. No affidavits are filed if the applicant’s sole basis is that the pleading discloses no reasonable cause of action or defence. • is an abuse of process of the court; or • is in the interests of justice to do so. All the parties to an action commenced by originat- ing claim may, by consent, make a request to court no later than two months after the filing of the last pleading, for the action to be placed on the Express Track. A judge’s decision to refuse a request for an action to be placed on the Express Track is final and non-appealable. Where an action has been placed on the Express Track: • the parties are to produce documents relied on to prove any allegation in their pleadings at the time of filing their pleadings or within 14 days after the date on which the action is placed on the Express Track (for pleadings filed before the action is placed on the Express Track); • the parties are to file affidavits of evidence-in-chief, limited to 30 pages unless the court otherwise orders, after the pleadings have been filed and served; • interlocutory applications are to be made by way of an SAPT and will be decided without oral argu- ments;
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