SINGAPORE Law and Practice Contributed by: Foo Yuet Min, Kong Man Er, Shumin Lin and See Chern Yang, Drew & Napier LLC
3.2 Statutes of Limitations The Limitation Act 1959 applies to civil suits. It provides for many different scenarios, but the more common ones are as follows: • actions brought for damages for personal injuries have a three-year limitation period from the time the cause of action accrued or the earliest date the victim had the requisite knowledge to bring such an action; • actions based on a contract or tort have a six-year limitation period, which is extended for “latent” injuries or damage, and there are certain special provisions for negligence, nui- sance or breach of duty for such cases; • actions to recover land have a 12-year limita- tion period; and • no limitation period applies to an action by a beneficiary of a trust in respect of the trus- tee’s fraud and/or to recover trust property or proceeds from the trustee. A limitation period usually commences when the cause of action accrues. For “latent” injuries and damage, the limitation period commences only when the plaintiff has both the right and the knowledge to bring an action. The Limitation Act 1959 and the Foreign Limita- tion Periods Act 2012 apply to arbitral proceed- ings as they apply to proceedings before any court, and any reference in both Acts to the com- mencement of proceedings is to be construed as a reference to the commencement of arbitral proceedings. 3.3 Jurisdictional Requirements for a Defendant A defendant must be properly served with an originating process, either personally in Singa- pore or outside Singapore (with permission of court). Exceptionally, the court may order “sub-
the claim to be acceded to and to potentially avoid litigation. Prior to commencement and during the course of any action or appeal, a party to any proceed- ings has the duty to consider amicable resolu- tion of the party’s dispute. A party is to make a written offer of amicable resolution before com- mencing an action, unless the party has reason- able grounds not to do so. An offer of amicable resolution means making an offer to settle the action or appeal, or making an offer to resolve the dispute other than by litigation, whether in whole or in part. A party to any proceedings must not reject an offer of amicable resolution unless the party has reasonable grounds to do so. The offer of amicable resolution must be open for acceptance for at least 14 days, unless the par- ties agree otherwise. The terms of an offer that has not been accepted must not be relied upon nor made known to the court until after the court has determined the merits of the action. There are pre-action protocols for medical negli- gence claims that are brought in the High Court and the State Courts, and for some categories of claims brought in the State Courts, such as: • personal injury claims; • non-injury motor accident claims; and • defamation claims. The court will sanction any failure to comply with these protocols, unless good reasons are provided. Where parties have contracted for a specific set of dispute resolution procedures as precondi- tions for arbitration, those preconditions must be fulfilled before an arbitration may be started.
1236 CHAMBERS.COM
Powered by FlippingBook