Alagamalai s/o Veerasamy v Chan Liau Chuan

• Jurisdiction: Singapore
• Judge: Lim Teong Qwee JC
• Judgment Date: 17 October 1994
• Neutral Citation: [1994] SGHC 267
• Published date: 13 December 2012
• Court: High Court (Singapore)
• Plaintiff Counsel: Joe Chellam
• Defendant Counsel: Foo Yuk Lin

JUDGMENT:

GROUNDS OF JUDGMENT

On 13 March 1990 at about 9.30am there was a collision between a motorcycle which the plaintiff was riding and a motor lorry or "pick-up" as it is commonly called driven by the defendant at the junction of Sungei Rd and Jln Besar. The plaintiff was thrown from his motorcycle and suffered a comminuted fracture of the distal shafts of the left tibia and fibula and abrasions on both legs, both forearms and the left side of his chest. In these proceedings he claimed damages for negligence against the defendant and on 24 May 1994 I allowed his claim but found that he was three-quarters to blame and awarded damages as follows:

General Damages
Injuries	$22,000.00
Loss of earning capacity	$ 5,000.00	$27,000.00
Special Damages
Hospital bill (agreed)	$ 1,283.00
Treatment fee (agreed)	$ 165.00
Loss of earnings (agreed)	$ 3,324.56
Transport to and fro hospital and work:
(a) 1990 March to July	$ 266.00
(b) 1990 August to 1991 January	$ 2,100.00
Value of motorcycle (agreed)	$ 250.00
		$ 7,388.56
Total		$34,388.56
Damages at 25%		$ 8,597.14

I also allowed interest on the damages other than for loss of earning capacity at 6% pa from the date of the writ. It was disclosed by counsel that the defendant had made an open offer to settle on 11 May 1994 by paying an amount which exceeded the amount now recovered and I ordered the plaintiff's costs down to 11 May 1994 to be taxed on the standard basis and paid by the defendant and the defendant's costs from 12 May 1994 to be taxed on an indemnity basis and paid by the plaintiff and that the costs be offset. The costs are to be taxed on the subordinate courts scale. These are my grounds of judgment.

Immediately before the collision both the plaintiff and the defendant were travelling along Sungei Rd in the same direction approaching the junction. Sungei Rd is a south bound one-way street with 5 lanes leading to Ophir Rd immediately after the junction and Jln Besar is a west bound one-way street with 4 lanes leading to Bencoolen St immediately after the junction. Two right lanes from Sungei Rd must turn right into Bencoolen St and the third right lane is an optional right turn or straight lane. The first left lane in Bencoolen St is a bus lane. Police investigations were carried out and from the sketch plan it appears that after the collision the pick-up came to rest in the junction on the first and second right lanes of Sungei Rd and the first and second left lanes of Jln Besar. The motorcycle came to rest on its left side with its rear wheel forward on the first right lane of Ophir Rd some 9m away. There were skid marks from the second right lane of Sungei Rd to the first right lane of Ophir Rd. The front offside bumper and front offside fender of the pick-up were dented and its front offside headlamp plastic cover was cracked. The rear stop light of the motorcycle was smashed and some features on the left side were also damaged. Unfortunately the agreed sketch plan did not show if it was noted whether there was any broken glass on the road which might have come from the rear stop light of the motorcycle. It was a clear day and the road surface was dry. The traffic lights were operating correctly. It was a weekday and at that time in the morning the traffic was heavy.

The plaintiff said he had come from Bukit Timah Rd and when he continued into Sungei Rd he was in the third right lane which is the middle lane. When he first noticed the pick-up he was about 50m from the junction and the pick-up was according to his indication from the witness stand a little under 4m in front in the same lane. He was to the right of the lane close to the lane marking. There was traffic in the second right lane. The traffic lights ahead were green in his favour and he intended to overtake the pick-up. He intended to proceed to Ophir Rd. The front wheel of his motorcycle passed the front of the pick-up when they were both inside the yellow box at the junction. He marked on the sketch plan the position of the front of his motorcycle at this point of time. He said he continued to go ahead at the junction and as he proceeded to pass the pick-up there was a collision between the pick-up and the rear of his motorcycle. At this point of time he said he was about...