Lin Securities (Pte Ltd) v OSK & Partners Sdn Bhd

JurisdictionSingapore
JudgeL P Thean J
Judgment Date25 March 1987
Neutral Citation[1987] SGHC 7
Date25 March 1987
Subject MatterAction commenced by plaintiffs in Singapore and another by defendants in Malaysia,Stay of proceedings,Forum conveniens,Winding up petition pending against plaintiff,Whether 'Singapore action' to be stayed on ground that 'Malaysian action' concerns same subject matter,Civil Procedure
Docket NumberSuit No 1338 of 1987
Published date19 September 2003
Defendant CounselYM Jumabhoy (YM Jumabhoy & Co)
CourtHigh Court (Singapore)
Plaintiff CounselSusan Kong (Shook Lin & Bok)

Cur Adv Vult

The plaintiffs are a company incorporated in Singapore and at the material time carried on the business of a stockbroker in Singapore. The plaintiffs are presently under receivership and a winding-up petition has been presented against them and is still pending. The defendants are a company incorporated in Malaysia and at the material time carried on, and are still carrying on, the business of a stockbroker at Kuala Lumpur.

On 26 July 1985 the plaintiffs and the defendants entered into a contract whereby the plaintiffs greed to sell and the defendants agreed to purchase 1,500,000 shares in Sigma International Ltd (Sigma) at a price of S$2.90 per share, amounting in total to a sum of S$4,350,000.
The contract was negotiated and concluded over the telephone between the representatives of the plaintiffs and the defendants, and thereafter they issued their respective contract notes; the plaintiffs issued their contract note for the sale of the shares, and the defendants on their side issued their contract notes for the purchase thereof - the defendants issued five contract notes in respect of the transaction. It was a term of the contract, as alleged by the plaintiffs and apparently not disputed by the defendants, that delivery and payment of the shares would take place on 29 January 1986.

Sigma is a company incorporated in Singapore and its shares at the date of the contract were quoted and dealt with on The Stock Exchange of Singapore Ltd and The Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange; since then dealings in, and quotation of the shares of Sigma have been suspended and are still being suspended on both the stock exchanges.


On 28 January 1986 the plaintiffs in a telex to the defendants informed the defendants that they would deliver 90,000 shares out of the 1,500,000 shares and requested for payment of a sum of S$261,000.
Such partial delivery, according to the plaintiffs, was permitted under the by-laws of The Stock Exchange of Singapore Ltd. On 29 January 1986 the plaintiffs delivered the said 90,000 shares and the defendants refused to take delivery thereof and pay the said sum of S$261,000. The plaintiffs alleged that they were ready and willing to deliver the balance of 1,410,000 shares due under the contract and that the defendants had declined to accept delivery and pay for the whole of the 1,500,000 shares and had thereby repudiated the said contract.

The plaintiffs therefore initiated the present proceedings (Singapore action) against the defendants, claiming damages for breach of contract and on 5 February 1986, applied for and obtained an order for issue of the writ of summons in this action against the defendants and for service of a notice of the writ on them at Kuala Lumpur.
The defendants, however, were ahead of the plaintiffs in taking legal action; they had, prior to that date, initiated proceedings in Suit No C 22-16-86 in the High Court of Malaya at Kuala Lumpur (Malaysian action) and on 22 January 1986 obtained an order in the High Court for issue of a writ of summons against the plaintiffs and service of a notice of the writ on the plaintiffs in Singapore. In the Malaysian action the defendants seek a declaration that the contract made between the plaintiffs and the defendants is void on the ground that it is illegal and/or against public policy or in the alternative unenforceable.

Upon service of the notice of the writ of summons in the Singapore action on the defendants, they entered a conditional appearance and on 19 March 1986, took out an application by way of summons-in-chambers, entered No 3452 of 1986 for an order, inter alia, that all further proceedings in the Singapore action be stayed under the inherent jurisdiction of the court
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1 cases
  • Re City Securities Pte
    • Singapore
    • High Court (Singapore)
    • 27 Abril 1990
    ...Re [1971] QLR 101 (folld) Jackson & Bassford, In re [1906] 2 Ch 467 (refd) Lin Securities (Pte Ltd) v OSK & Partners Sdn Bhd [1987] SLR (R) 134; [1987] SLR 242 (folld) Mercantile Bank of India v Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China [1938] AC 287; [1937] 1 All ER 231 (distd) Molton F......

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