Mohd Sainudin bin Ahmad v Consolidated Hotels Ltd and Another

• Jurisdiction: Singapore
• Judge: Chan Sek Keong J
• Judgment Date: 30 December 1990
• Neutral Citation: [1990] SGCA 16
• Docket Number: Civil Appeal No 3 of 1985
• Date: 30 December 1990
• Year: 1990
• Published date: 19 September 2003
• Plaintiff Counsel: Subbiah Pillai (Patrick Koh & Co)
• Citation: [1990] SGCA 16
• Defendant Counsel: Ranvir Kumar Singh (Chia Tang Kumar & Loh)
• Court: Court of Appeal (Singapore)
• Subject Matter: Owners engaging contractor and architect to carry out development of site,Whether owners of site were occupiers of or had control over site,Tort,Liability of independent contractors,Duty of care of owners of site to third parties discharged by employment of independent contractors,Duty of care,Occupier’s liability

This was an appeal against the judgment of LP Thean J who dismissed the plaintiff`s claim for damages for negligence against the first defendants. The grounds relied upon by the plaintiff on appeal were the same as those canvassed before and rejected by LP Thean J in his judgment: see [1989] 1 MLJ 297 . At the conclusion of the hearing before us, we dismissed the appeal.

The plaintiff had obtained judgment against the second defendant for damages for negligence in failing to provide a safe and proper system of work and exposing him to this risk of damage and injury. That judgment had not been satisfied when the action against the first defendants was heard.

The facts were not in dispute. The first defendants were the owners of the site on which the building now known as Peninsula Plaza stands. They had engaged SA Shee & Co Pte Ltd (SA Shee) as the main contractor to erect the building under the terms of a building contract dated 20 October 1976 which incorporated the standard SIA conditions of contract. They gave possession of the vacant site to SA Shee sometime in October 1976 to carry out the building works. M/s Alfred Wong were appointed by the first defendants as architects for the development. The second defendant was the scaffolding sub-contractor of SA Shee. The plaintiff was an employee of the second defendant.

On 8 August 1979, while the plaintiff was working on the construction site, tying poles with rattan on the third floor of the partially completed building, a brick fell from the upper floors and hit him on the head. He sustained serious injuries as a result.

In his statement of claim, the plaintiff averred that the first defendants were negligent in the following manner:

(a) Failing to take any or any reasonable care to see that the plaintiff would be reasonably safe in using the said premises.

(b) Exposing the plaintiff, while he was engaged upon the said work, to a risk of damage or injury from falling brick of which they knew or ought to have known.

(c) Failing to take any or any adequate or effective precautions to ensure that the brick from the upper floors of the said premises would not fall and strike the plaintiff.

(d) Causing or permitting the said premises to be or to become or to remain in an unsafe and dangerous state, in that the said brick was likely suddenly to fall therefrom.

Before the judge, the liability of the first defendants was put on two grounds: (1) they were occupiers of or had control of the site in that they had engaged architects, a site engineer and a clerk of works to supervise the construction works and the architects had considerable powers to give instructions to SA Shee in relation to the works under the building contract, including the power to instruct the dismissal of...