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Lock Han Chng Jonathan v. Goh Jessiline was a court case decided in the Court of Appeal of Singapore on 31 December 2007 which concerned the validity of settlements made at the Primary Dispute Resolution Centre (PDRC, now e@dr Centre) of the Subordinate Courts of Singapore. The case was highly publicized in the media for the absurdities in the legal process leading up to the appeal, which ballooned from a compensation payment of S$187.50 to over $120,000 in legal costs over a minor vehicle accident.〔(Teacher wins appeal against insurer over legal costs ), Wong Mun Wai, Channel NewsAsia, 3 October 2007〕〔Teacher Jonathan Lock wins case, Selina Lum, The Straits Times, 4 October 2007〕〔Common man wins legal battle, Leong Wee Keat, Today (Singapore newspaper), 4 October 2007〕〔(Lawyers get dressing down for their costly frolic ), Karen Wong, The New Paper, 4 October 2007〕 In particular, one of the appeal judges, Justice V. K. Rajah, expressed to one of the lawyers representing Goh's insurers NTUC Income that "you used a sledgehammer to crack a nut, when all you needed was a nutcracker."〔 The court decided that all parties were to bear their own legal costs except appellant Jonathan Lock, who could not be billed by his ex-lawyer Andrew Hanam without the court's permission and who was to have his legal costs for the appeal paid by NTUC Income. The Chief Justice also directed the Law Society of Singapore to investigate Hanam's professional conduct.〔(He 'exposed client to needless risks' ), Karen Wong, The New Paper, 5 October 2007〕 The court upheld the PDRC's decisions in dispute resolution to be binding in subsequent court orders.〔〔 ==Background to the case== In November 2004, Jonathan Lock's second-hand BMW motorcycle was involved in a minor collision with Jessiline Goh's Toyota car. Both vehicles were insured by NTUC Income. Following the dispute resolution process in the Primary Dispute Resolution Centre, Lock was awarded compensation of S$187.50 plus legal costs while Goh was ordered to pay about $1,200 in costs.〔Costly court battle, The Straits Times, 8 September 2007〕 Lock's then lawyer Andrew Hanam applied for a writ of summons and seizure to be issued against Goh.〔(He is thrown a lifeline ), The New Paper, 17 September 2007〕 Due to disagreements over S$60 (approx. US$40) in Lock's legal costs,〔〔 Madan Asomull, the lawyer for Goh's insurer challenged the order on three occasions in the High Court on the basis that the decisions made by PDRC were unenforceable since it was not a court of law. On the third attempt, Justice Lai Siu Chiu agreed with Asomull and ordered Lock to pay S$45,000 in costs to NTUC Income (brought down from an initial S$63,000 after appeal).〔〔〔 Lock, who was unaware of the proceedings following the PDRC resolution, suddenly found himself having to pay the costs awarded against him. His plight was publicized in the media when the writ of summons and seizure was reversed against him, which made him liable to significant personal losses.〔(Teacher rejects Income's deal ), Carolyn Quek, The Straits Times, 26 September 2007〕 Shortly after Lock's plight was made public, insurer NTUC Income's CEO Tan Suee Chieh offered to waive the costs awarded against Lock and give him $25,000 to settle his legal costs as a gesture of goodwill, on the condition that Lock dropped his stated intention to appeal.〔〔(Mr Jonathan Lock's case ), Tan Suee Chieh (CEO), NTUC Income (Press Release), 14 September 2007〕〔(NTUC Income waives legal charges against Jonathan Lock ), Valarie Tan, Channel NewsAsia, 15 September 2007〕 Initially overjoyed, Lock was billed S$80,000 by his lawyer, Andrew Hanam, shortly after his dismissal, so he decided to turn down the offer and to proceed to the Court of Appeal, the highest court in the jurisdiction of Singapore.〔〔 He also filed a civil suit against his former lawyer alleging that he provided inadequate professional services, in response to which the latter filed a counter-suit for defamation.〔"Teacher may drop suit against ex-lawyer", K.C. Vijayan, The Straits Times, 6 October 2007〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Lock Han Chng Jonathan v Goh Jessiline」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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