Ronnie Lee Seng Choon v Singapore Island Country Club

• Jurisdiction: Singapore
• Judge: Kan Ting Chiu JC
• Judgment Date: 17 January 1992
• Neutral Citation: [1992] SGHC 7
• Court: High Court (Singapore)
• Published date: 06 September 2007
• Year: 1992
• Plaintiff Counsel: Cheong Yuen Hee, Koh Boon Hai and Thomas Chin (Wendy Wong & Koh)
• Defendant Counsel: Ronnie Quek (Allen & Gledhill)
• Citation: [1992] SGHC 7

IN THE MATTER OF A MEMBER OF THE SINGAPORE ISLAND COUNTRY CLUB

BETWEEN

RONNIE LEE SENG CHOON ... PLAINTIFF

AND

THE SOCIETIES ACT, CAP. 311, 1985 EDITION) ... DEFENDANT

AND

OF THE RULES OF THE SUPREME COURT 1970

Citation:	OS No 287 of 1991
Jurisdiction:	Singapore
Date:	1992:01:17
Court:	High Court
Coram:	Kan Ting Chiu, JC
Counsel:	M/s Cheong Yuen Hee, Koh Boon Hai and Thomas Chin; (M/s Wendy Wong & Koh) for the Plaintiff
	Mr Ronnie Quek (M/s Allen & Gledhill) for the Defendant

JUDGMENT:

In this action the Plaintiff sought three declarations -

1. A declaration that the 3rd and Final Notice from the Defendants, the Singapore Island Country Club as required by the Rules of the Defendants is invalid. 2. A declaration that the Notice dated 15th July 1989 to delete the Plaintiff from the Register of Members of the Defendants, the Singapore Island Country Club is null and void and the Plaintiff is not bound thereby. 3. A declaration that the Plaintiff is and was at all times and still is a member of the Defendants, the Singapore Island Country Club.

The Plaintiff instituted these proceedings after his name was deleted from the Register of Members of the Singapore Island Country Club ("the Club") under Rule 47 of the Rules of the Club the relevant portions of which read -

(b) Each member shall deposit with the Club $300.00 as security for the payment of all monies due under his account with the Club. Each member shall keep his account in credit and for the purpose of construing whether the member's account is in credit, any deposit made by the member and held by the Club as such security shall not be taken into reckoning. (c) Should any member's account not be in credit, the Committee may, after due notification has been given, withdraw the privileges of the Club until credit has been established. (e) If any member fails to place his account in credit within seven days after notice from the Secretary or the Honorary Treasurer, the Secretary or Honorary Treasurer shall give him a notice stating that unless his account be placed in credit within a further period of seven days, his name will be posted on the Club's Notice Boards as a Defaulter. (f) If the member fails to place his account in credit after his name has been so posted as a Defaulter, the Committee shall delete his name from the Register of Members and he shall thereupon cease to be a member but without prejudice to the right of the Club to recover all monies due by him to the Club.

The Plaintiff's complaints against the termination of his membership set out in his affidavit filed on 27 March 1991 in support of his application were -

5. The Defendants failed to comply with the provisions of the Rule 47(e) in that the notices for payment was not signed by either the Secretary or the Honorary Treasurer. I enclose a file copy of the 3rd and final reminder marked "RL-3". 6. Secondly, the 3rd and final reminder for payment from the Defendant was neither dated nor addressed or properly addressed to me in that the letter was addressed to "Dear Member" and is therefore prejudicial to my rights as a 'SICC' member as the Rules and formality have not been complied within in exercising the power of expulsion. 7. I was also not given any notice to defend myself in a meeting of the 'SICC' General Committee, so that I can have a reasonable opportunity of defending myself against expulsion.

As the application was by way of an originating summons, the parties adduced evidence by affidavits. The Plaintiff made three substantive affidavits and the Defendant filed five affidavits through three employees. The Plaintiff and two of the employees were cross-examined on their affidavits. Before going into the evidence, it is useful to refer to two notices provided for by Rule 47. The first notice is issued under Rule 47(c) to a member whose account is not in credit to notify him of the withdrawal of Club privileges. If the member does not put his account in credit within seven days of receipt of the first notice, a second notice is issued under Rule 47(e) warning him that unless his account is placed in credit within seven days, his name will be posted as a defaulter and that action will be taken to delete his name from the Register of Members.

The notices are standard-form documents described respectively as the "2nd Reminder" (exhibit "C" of the affidavit of Chuang Juat Lee filed on 26 September 1991) and the "3rd and Final Reminder" (exhibit "F" of the affidavit). The first reminder is incorporated into the monthly statements of accounts (exhibit "A" of the affidavit) and refers to sums overdue from previous months.

It was common ground that a first reminder was sent to the Plaintiff at his office address at Oryx International Pte Ltd, #08-11 Asia Insurance Building, 2 Finlayson Green, Singapore 0104. It was a statement of accounts for the month of March 1989 and showed that $419.75 was two months overdue, $101.10 was one month overdue and $299.40 was due for the current month, making a total of $820.25. It was also common ground that a cheque for $101.10 was issued to the Club dated 30 May 1989, but it was not signed. It was returned to the Club upon presentation for payment and had to be sent back to the Plaintiff for signature. The cheque was eventually cleared for payment on or about 3 July 1989.

The first two complaints of the Plaintiff was that the notice issued under Rule 47(e), i.e. the 3rd and Final Reminder, was not signed, not dated and not properly addressed to him. It is useful to note that those allegations were made on the basis of the "file copy" without saying that the original document was not sent to him. His evidence was that a friend who was also a member of the Club sent a copy of the "file copy" of the 3rd and Final Reminder to him.

In his affidavit filed on 26 August 1989, the Plaintiff deposed that -

2. I wish to state that to the best of my knowledge I do not recall seeing the 2nd and 3rd Reminders that were alleged to have been sent to me by the Defendants herein. 3. My office secretary may have acknowledged receipt of some envelopes, but I myself do not recall seeing the 2nd and 3rd Reminders. and in the course of cross-examination, he reiterated that "I have not received them. The office may have received them". Chuang Juat Lee, the Computer Executive of the Defendant deposed in an affidavit filed on 26 September 1991 that the accounts of the Defendant were computerised. The computer generates the monthly statements of accounts of members. If an account is not settled by a month, a first reminder is printed on the statement of account for the following month. If the overdue account remains unpaid 14 days after the issuance of the first reminder, the computer will print out a list of members to which a second reminder is to be sent. A copy of the list of addressees dated 5 May 1989 bearing the Plaintiff's name was exhibited in her affidavit. The computer will also print a standard-form reminder, with the member's name, address, club number, date and account particulars printed thereon. Fourteen days after the despatch of the second reminder, the computer will print out a list of those members whose accounts are still overdue to whom the 3rd and Final Reminders are to be sent. A copy of this list dated 22 May 1989 with the Plaintiff's name on it was also exhibited in her affidavit. This reminder is also in a standard form with the member's name, address, club number, the date of issue, the date when the second reminder was issued and the overdue amount to be incorporated.

This witness also described the procedure for sending 3rd and Final Reminders. A mailing list is printed out by the computer, as well as a sticker for each letter bearing the name and address of each addressee. The 3rd and Final Reminders are sent by registered post and a sticker is stuck onto each Advice of Delivery card. The Advice of Delivery card of the letter to the Plaintiff sent to his office address was exhibited to the affidavit. The Plaintiff was shown the original Advice of Delivery card when he was cross-examined. He...