Sun Jin Engineering
Jurisdiction | Singapore |
Judge | Chao Hick Tin JA |
Judgment Date | 21 January 2011 |
Neutral Citation | [2011] SGCA 4 |
Year | 2011 |
Date | 21 January 2011 |
Published date | 06 April 2011 |
Hearing Date | 07 September 2010 |
Plaintiff Counsel | A Rajandran (A Rajandran) |
Citation | [2011] SGCA 4 |
Defendant Counsel | Haresh Kamdar (KhattarWong) |
Court | Court of Appeal (Singapore) |
Docket Number | Civil Appeal No 73 of 2010 |
This is an appeal against the decision of the High Court judge (“the Judge”), who upheld the decision of the assistant registrar (“the AR”) to grant a stay of proceedings in Suit No 379 of 2009 (“the Singapore Action”), an action commenced in Singapore by the appellant, Sun Jin Engineering Pte Ltd (“the Appellant”), against the respondent, Hwang Jae Woo (“the Respondent”). The grounds of decision of the Judge may be found at
To better appreciate the circumstances giving rise to the Singapore Action, we will first set out the facts of the case. The Appellant is a company incorporated in Singapore. Its majority shareholder and director is one Seung Yong Chung (“Seung”), who is also a substantial shareholder and director of a Malaysian company known as Sun Jin Engineering (M) Sdn Bhd (“SJM”). The Respondent is a South Korean citizen who was the acting project director for projects undertaken by SJM in the Republic of Maldives (“the Maldives”). The exact legal relationship between the Appellant and the Respondent is in dispute,1 although the Judge was tentatively of the view that the Respondent was in fact employed by the Appellant at the material time, albeit seconded to work for SJM in the Maldives (see the GD at [31]; see also
The Respondent worked in the Maldives from 27 August 2006 to 1 February 2008. When the Respondent arrived in the Maldives on 27 August 2006, he was given a letter of employment dated 15 August 2006 from SJM. The authenticity of this letter is disputed by the Appellant. During the period while the Respondent was working in the Maldives, he was the country representative, project director and project manager of SJM. It is undisputed that the directors of SJM passed a resolution on 3 May 2007 appointing the Respondent as its country representative in the Maldives. The work permit issued by the Maldivian authorities showed the Respondent as an employee of SJM.
The Appellant brought the Singapore Action against the Respondent, claiming that the latter had (
The main unauthorised payments alluded to at
We should add that legal proceedings in connection with the above two payments were earlier commenced in the Maldives, and judgments have already been given by the courts there. The judgments in those proceedings (which are different from the contemplated Maldivian proceedings mentioned at
At this juncture, we should further add that the Respondent has successfully sued SJM in the Maldives (in Case No 733/MC/2008 (“the Maldivian profit suit”)) for wrongful termination of employment and compensation.4 In that action, the Civil Court of the Maldives found that the Respondent was an employee of SJM5 (see [30] of the GD, and
Before the Judge, broadly, two main issues were raised:
Apropos the First Issue, the Judge applied
In expressing his reservations about
Turning to the Second Issue, the Judge applied what is commonly called “the
After considering the evidence, the Judge came to the tentative view that (as mentioned earlier at
Moving on to the second stage of the
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Blq v Blr
...3 SLR 743 (folld) Smith v Cosworth Casting Processes Ltd [1997] 1 WLR 1538 (not folld) Sun Jin Engineering Pte Ltd v Hwang Jae Woo [2011] 2 SLR 196 (folld) Tay Sin Tor v Tan Chay Eng [1999] 2 SLR (R) 385; [2000] 2 SLR 225 (refd) Yeo Chong Lin v Tay Ang Choo Nancy [2011] 2 SLR 1157 (refd) Ce......
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Allenger, Shiona (trustee-in-bankruptcy of the estate of Pelletier, Richard Paul Joseph) v Pelletier, Olga and another
...of this court in OMG Holdings Pte Ltd v Pos Ad Sdn Bhd [2012] 4 SLR 231 at [18] and Sun Jin Engineering Pte Ltd v Hwang Jae Woo [2011] 2 SLR 196 at [20]). The second objection raised was that the Plaintiff did not have any standing to bring the claim under s 73B of the CLPA, as a “person th......
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Comptroller of Income Tax v ARW and another (Attorney-General, intervener)
...a notice of appeal. The ultimate concern of the Court should be the justice of the case: Sun Jin Engineering Pte Ltd v Hwang Jae Woo [2011] 2 SLR 196 (“Sun Jin”). On the facts, an extension of time is justified because: (a) there is a reasonable and genuine justification for the delay, (b) ......
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Law Society of Singapore v Yeo Khirn Hai Alvin
...524 (refd) Shankar Alan s/o Anant Kulkarni, Re [2007] 1 SLR(R) 85; [2007] 1 SLR 85 (refd) Sun Jin Engineering Pte Ltd v Hwang Jae Woo [2011] 2 SLR 196 (refd) Tan Seet Eng v AG [2016] 1 SLR 779 (folld) Tan Tiang Hin Jerry v Singapore Medical Council [2000] 1 SLR(R) 553; [2000] 2 SLR 274 (ref......
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THE IDEALS IN THE PROPOSED RULES OF COURT
...3 SLR(R) 537 at [82]; V Nithia v Buthmanaban s/o Vaithilingam [2015] 5 SLR 1422 at [37]; Sun Jin Engineering Pte Ltd v Hwang Jae Woo [2011] 2 SLR 196; Public Prosecutor v Goldring Timothy Nicholas [2014] 1 SLR 586 (principles applied to criminal proceedings); and Perdigao Agroindustrial SA ......
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Civil Procedure
...set aside a judgment on the basis of fraud. Stay of proceedings 8.63 The Court of Appeal in Sun Jin Engineering Pte Ltd v Hwang Jae Woo[2011] 2 SLR 196 (Sun Jin Engineering) reiterated its position in Chan Chin Cheung v Chan Fatt Cheung[2010] 1 SLR 1192 that a party who takes a step in the ......
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Civil Procedure
...the extension of time should be granted, the court applied the four factors highlighted in Sun Jin Engineering Pte Ltd v Hwang Jae Woo[2011] 2 SLR 196, namely: (a) the length of the delay; (b) the reasons for the delay; (c) the chances of a successful appeal if the time were extended; and (......
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Admiralty and Shipping Law
...[27]. 43 Wellmix Organics (International) Pte Ltd v Lau Yu Man [2006] 2 SLR(R) 525. 44 The Xin Chang Shu [2016] 3 SLR 1195 at [34]. 45 [2011] 2 SLR 196. 46 Sun Jin Engineering Pte Ltd v Hwang Jae Woo [2011] 2 SLR 196 at [29]. 47 Sun Jin Engineering Pte Ltd v Hwang Jae Woo [2011] 2 SLR 196 a......