Kim Taw Electric Sawmill Co (Pte) Ltd v Ann Ee Siong

• Jurisdiction: Singapore
• Judge: D C D'Cotta J
• Judgment Date: 24 March 1980
• Neutral Citation: [1980] SGCA 4
• Docket Number: Civil Appeal No 85 of 1979
• Date: 24 March 1980
• Published date: 19 September 2003
• Year: 1980
• Plaintiff Counsel: Joe Chellam (Joe Chellam)
• Citation: [1980] SGCA 4
• Defendant Counsel: Chiam See Tong (Chiam & Co)
• Court: Court of Appeal (Singapore)
• Subject Matter: Res ipsa loquitur,Negligence,Logs rolling off lorry injuring plaintiff,Employers' duty to provide safe system of work -Injury in course of employment,Lorry parked lop-sided,Employers’ duties,Duty to provide safe system of work,Tort,Injury caused by logs rolling off parked lorry,Employment Law

This was an appeal against the decision of the High Court (see [1978-1979] SLR 574 ). At the conclusion of the appeal, Wee Chong Jin CJ, delivering oral judgment of the court, reversed the findings of fact of the trial court as to how the logs rolled off the lorry. The Court of Appeal accepted the defendant`s version as to why the logs rolled off the lorry, that it was the plaintiff who knocked off the last wedge in the lorry, causing the logs to roll off.

Their Lordships also found that the system of work adopted by the defendant/appellant company was not safe, since it involved the human agency to knock off the wedges. It was the view of their Lordships that since persons were required to knock off the wedges, an accident may happen if the persons involved in knocking off the wedges were careless or negligent. In the premise, their Lordships found both the respondent and the appellant equally to blame for the accident and consequently, damages for the respondent were reduced by half and the respondent was...