PUB 1997 Pte Ltd v William Scorpion and Others

• Jurisdiction: Singapore
• Judge: Goh Joon Seng J
• Judgment Date: 30 December 1994
• Neutral Citation: [1994] SGHC 287
• Published date: 13 December 2012
• Court: High Court (Singapore)
• Plaintiff Counsel: Ng Soon Kai (Lisa Theng)
• Defendant Counsel: Salviwala Din

JUDGMENT:

The plaintiff operates a `canto pop' pub which is a pub for popular Cantonese music called PUB 1997. It also manages another pub known as EUROPA.

The defendants are entertainers. The first defendant is a singer. The second to the fifth defendants are members of a band < `the Fantasy Band' > .

In August 1992, the plaintiff approached the defendants to sign them on to perform at PUB 1997 scheduled to commence business in October 1992 or at any other pub managed by it.

The first defendant entered into a contract with the plaintiff in August 1992 < `the first contract' > . The relevant clauses of the first contract read:

Cl 3: "That the period of the Artiste's engagement shall be for a period of one month commencing from 9th October 1992."

Cl 10: "Should any of the Artiste breach any of the stipulated terms and conditions of the Contract, the Company reserves the right to terminate the service of the Artistes and in such event the Company shall be entitled to claim damages from the Artiste or Artiste concerned."

Cl 11: "Notwithstanding the Contract tenor stipulated under clause 3, the Company reserves the right to terminate this Contract at any time subject to one month's prior notice given to the Artiste."

On 12 August 1992, the plaintiff entered into an agreement with the Fantasy Band < `the first agreement' > . The relevant clauses of the first agreement read:

Cl 3: "That the period of the Artistes' engagement shall be for 3 months in the first instance and thereafter the Company reserves the right of option to extend this Contract by another 6 months on the same terms and conditions. ... ..."

Cl 10: "That all parties shall be released from their respective obligation in the event of National Mourning, War, Fire, Riots, Strikes, Food, Lockouts, Imposition of curfew directly affecting the place of entertainment and or in the Acts of God or any act/order by the competent authority rendered and required licence of the Hotel or Club and premises being withheld, suspended or invalidated thus preventing the Hotel or Club from carrying on its business, the Company shall be relieve < sic > of its obligations contained in this Contract and the Artistes shall be paid for the actual number of days performed only prior to the occurrence of such contingency."

Cl 11: "Should any of the Artistes breach any of the stipulated terms and conditions of the Contract, the Company reserves the right to terminate the service of the Artistes and in such event the Company shall be entitled to claim damages from the Artistes or Artistes concerned."

PUB 1997 commenced business on 9 October 1992. The first defendant thus started to perform from 9 October 1992 and at the expiry of the period of one month under the first contract which had no option for extension, the first defendant continued to perform without any written contract. The Fantasy Band also did so after the expiration of the period of three months without any formal exercise by the plaintiff of the option to extend the first agreement.

Initially the defendants were happy working for the plaintiff. But they soon became disenchanted principally because they perceived that they were given `second placing' by the plaintiff in favour of another band called `The New Wynners'. The defendants were to move over to EUROPA and their place at PUB 1997 to be taken over by The New Wynners. Also the promise of 50% discount for meals at the plaintiff's Sushi Bar was not honoured.

While in that frame of mind, the defendants and a female singer Angie Lau were given a holiday trip to Hong Kong by the plaintiff. The defendants and Angie Lau were requested by the plaintiff's managing director Foo Fong Long < `PW2' > to go to his office on 5 April 1993 to collect their airline tickets. Accordingly the defendants and Angie Lau did so. The first defendant ended up signing the contract of 5 April 1992 < `the second contract' > and the Fantasy Band signing the agreement, also of 5 April 1992 < `the second agreement' > .

The relevant clauses of the second contract and of the second agreement read:

Cl 2: "That the period of the Artiste's engagement shall be from 27th April 1993 to 31st January 1994."

Cl 10: "Notwithstanding the Contract tenor stipulated under clause 3 < should read 2 > the Company reserves the right to terminate or extend this Contract on similar terms and conditions at any time subject to one month's prior notice given to the Artiste."

Angie Lau, on the other hand, insisted on a shorter term and her fresh contract was for a period of three months with an option for extension for a further three months.

In or around May 1993, the first defendant and the Fantasy Band were approached by Nova Management Pte Ltd < `Nova' > to perform at their proposed mega-pub to be called `SPARKS'. The terms offered were attractive. Accordingly the first defendant and the Fantasy Band agreed to perform at SPARKS from 15 February 1994.

When PW2 and the plaintiff's consultant Tan Buck Chye < `PW1' > heard of this, the first defendant was summoned to a meeting with PW1, PW2 and the plaintiff's senior manager Peter Lau Sook Yoon at the Dai-ichi Hotel. This was on or about 21 July 1993.

At this meeting PW1 confronted the first defendant and showed him cl 10 of the second contract giving the plaintiff the right to extend on similar terms and conditions. The first defendant in turn alerted the Fantasy Band of the provisions of cl 10.

It is the defendants' position that until the meeting at Dai-ichi Hotel they were not aware of the extension provisions in cl 10. Accordingly they wrote to PW2 intimating that they would leave the plaintiff's service after 31 January 1994. The letter read:

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