Characterist is delighted to announce that Francis Wong (previously Senior Associate Director) and Johnston Lee (previously Associate Director) have been promoted to Director and Senior Associate Director respectively.
Francis heads the firm’s Construction practice and also handles Commercial Disputes, while Johnston has varied practice in Family law, Personal Injury / Negligence, Estate planning, Probate and Property Law.
A tragic loss of a young life. Our Daniel Goh acts for the family.
“During the inquiry, Mr Daniel Goh, a lawyer representing the family, asked why SI Tan said Ms Tan had “dashed” across the road.
Said Mr Goh: “She took perhaps one step, a very sad step, but it’s not tantamount to dashing across (the road).”
SI Tan replied that from TP’s investigations, Ms Tan’s step onto the road felt like a running motion.
…
Mr Goh also asked about the van’s speed and noted the speed limit of the area was 50kmh.SI Tan said he did not know, but could put in a request for the authorities to analyse the van’s speed. He added he was unable to tell via the video footage if the van was travelling below the area’s speed limit.”
Read the full Straits Times article here.
On Friday, 5 July 2024, Characterist shared a merry evening of drinks and canapes, laughter and conversations with our clients during Characterist Casual, our firm’s client thanksgiving event.
We would like to take the opportunity to express our heartfelt gratitude to our clients and all who attended.
We are proud to congratulate our Directors Daniel Goh and Dominic Chan for being recognised by Benchmark Litigation Asia-Pacific 2024 as Litigation Stars in their respective fields of Insurance and Commercial and Transactions.
Find out more at the following links:
https://benchmarklitigation.com/Lawyer/Daniel-Goh/Profile/146409#profile
https://benchmarklitigation.com/Lawyer/Dominic-Chan/Profile/134547#profile
We are delighted to announce that Benchmark Litigation Asia-Pacific 2024 has named Characterist LLC as a Recommended Firm in Commercial and Transactions and Construction and a Notable Firm in Family and Matrimonial. We would like to say a big thank you to our clients and our Characterist team for making these achievements happen!
Learn more at the following links:
(1) Our Benchmark Litigation profile page
(2) Our Benchmark Litigation rankings page
(3) Benchmark Litigation’s analysis page of Characterist
In a CNA Explains article on drink driving laws in Singapore, CNA examined the offence of drink driving in Singapore and the various penalties and consequences that offenders may face.
CNA interviewed various lawyers on the position in law, including Characterist’s Daniel Goh Choon Wah and Mitchell Leon.
Commenting on the recent amendments to the Road Traffic Act (RTA) in 2019, Mitchell highlighted that “the maximum sentences [for drink driving] were essentially doubled with the 2019 amendments [to the RTA], with the minimum disqualification period also doubled from 12 months to two years.” He also noted that “[i]t is clear that the enhanced sentencing regime post-2019 was intended to create a strong deterrence to would-be drink drivers, as well as irresponsible or reckless drivers”.
From a motor vehicle insurance perspective, Daniel commented that “in most cases, the insurance contract stipulates that drink driving constitutes grounds for the repudiation of insurance liability…In particular, some insurance policies might provide that any amount of alcohol consumed is grounds for repudiation. In other words, the driver need not necessarily exceed the legal limit under the Act of 80mg of alcohol in 100ml of blood”.
Read the full CNA article here.
Characterist’s Daniel Goh Choon Wah represented an ex-lawyer, David Khong Siak Meng, who had been charged with one count of criminal breach of trust.
Khong had acted for a couple in a conveyancing transaction, where he had deposited the buyer’s cheque of $88,000, paid in exercise of the option to purchase, into his firm’s office account instead of the firm’s clients’ account (which is specifically used for holding clients’ monies). He then proceeded to withdraw the full sum of $88,000 within the same month to pay off personal expenses and debts.
On 15 August 2007, the day after the sale was scheduled to be completed, Khong met his client and confessed to misappropriating the monies due to “personal problems”. He repaid his client $20,000 and asked for more time to repay the remaining $68,000. His client gave him till 18 August 2007 to do so, failing which, his client would make a police report. Khong was unable to do so and fled to China. Khong was eventually deported to Singapore on 23 September 2022.
Characterist’s Daniel Goh Choon Wah sought leniency for Khong from the Court, stating that “He would not have been arrested and deported (if not) for his clear and deliberate act of surrendering with the knowledge that he would have to be deported to Singapore to face the music”, and that “[h]e has matured in the long time away from home and should be afforded the opportunity to turn over a new leaf.”
Khong was sentenced to 36 months of jail. For committing criminal breach of trust as a lawyer, he could have received a jail sentence of up to twenty years, and also be liable to be fined.
Read more at this Straits Times article.
Characterist’s Daniel Goh Choon Wah represented three families of the passengers in the tragic and fatal car crash that happened at Tanjong Pagar on 13 February 2021.
The three passengers were the main providers for their elderly parents and next-of-kin. Characterist assisted the three families in seeking compensation through claims made in the Singapore High Court, to help them try to ease their financial concerns.
Read more at this Straits Times article (for subscribers only) or at this article by Mothership.
Characterist LLC’s Adrian Wee, Dominic Chan, Noel Oehlers, Daniel Ng, and Nicole Chee, are representing the Ngee Ann Kongsi in their application for an urgent Court order for the Teochew Poit Ip Huay Kuan to deliver up vacant possession of the premises it occupies in the Teochew Building at 97 Tank Road, in order that redevelopment works for the Teochew Building may commence.
The Ngee Ann Kongsi had planned for the redevelopment works for the Teochew Building to start on 1 July 2018. At the end of June 2017, the Ngee Ann Kongsi had served notice on the Teochew Poit Ip Huay Kuan for it to move out by the initial deadline of 30 June 2018. What followed were negotiations between the parties on the arrangements in respect of the moving out. However, despite protracted negotiations, both parties could not reach a consensus on such arrangements. In the light of the negotiations, the redevelopment works were also postponed twice, and is currently due to commence on 2 January 2019 (with the handing over of the Teochew Building to the main contractors to take place on 17 December 2018).
However, as still no consensus could be reached between the parties, and with the deadline for the handing over and commencement of the redevelopment works drawing near, the Ngee Ann Kongsi had to take out an urgent application to the Supreme Court of Singapore for the Teochew Poit Ip Huay Kuan to deliver up vacant possession of its premises to the Ngee Ann Kongsi.
The complete online version of the article may be found at the following link: https://www.zaobao.com.sg/znews/singapore/story20181208-914036
Characterist LLC’s Dominic Chan, Johnston Lee and Daniel Ng acted for the Plaintiffs and successfully established liability against the Defendant driver who suffered a stroke before colliding into the Plaintiffs when they were standing at the pavement beside the Geylang Lorong 9 frog leg porridge shop.
The Court adopted a 2015 English Court of Appeal’s objective test requiring “total loss of control”. In this regard, the Plaintiffs’ lawyers urged the Court against using the subjective test, citing various public policy reasons why the objective test is preferred. The Court was convinced by such policy reasons.
Applying the test to the facts, the Court held that “[t]he medical and non-medical evidence points to the conclusion that the haemorrhage/stroke did not cause the defendant to wholly lose control or entirely eliminate the defendant’s responsibility at the time of the (accident)…”.
This is the first Singapore decision on the applicable legal standard to establish a defence of automatism under tort law.
The complete online version of the article may be found at the following link:-
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/driver-who-had-stroke-found-liable-in-accident