A young national serviceman, Jeremy Tan, who was found at the bottom of a block of flats in an army camp won a lawsuit against the Ministry of Defence (Mindef). An investigation failed to reveal the cause of his fall. As a result of this fall, he became unconcious and remains in a coma since the August 2005 incident.
The lawsuit concerned the interpreation of words in certain subsidiary legislation. The SAF (Pensions) Regulations state that a member of the SAF - a regular, a full-time NSman, an operationally ready NSman or volunteer - has the right to a payout for disabilities resulting from 'an injury received in and which is attributable to service'. The issue here case was over the phrase 'attributable to service' and its application to the case. The judge, Justice Tay Yong Kwong, found that the case came within the Regulations. The Regulations would cover anyone on standby and the plaintiff was also on 24 hour duty. Since Mindef lost this proceeding, the next stage would be for the amount of payment to be assessed by the court.
Legal costs against Mindef for all proceedings including a 4 day trial were set at $33,000. Lawyer for the plaintiff was Lau Teik Soon, a former PAP member of parliament who after a long career as a university lecturer qualified as a lawyer.
Many legal proceedings, like this one, are divided into 2 parts - with the court deciding on liability in the first part, and then quantum in the second part. "Liability" refers to whether on the facts and the law, the defendant is responsible to the Plaintiff for breach of contract, negligence, etc. If liability is found, then the court moves to the next stage to determine the amount of compensation (or quantum) that can be claimed.
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