Legal Clinic

HowardtheDuck

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Apologies for the late reply - as this thread has been relatively quiet for the past few months, I only check it once every now and then.



Yes, please feel free to send a PM about the legal issue and I will try my best to answer your queries.



Without sighting the exact clause in question, below are my responses to your questions.

1. I cannot say with certainty whether the agency will or will not proceed with legal action. However, more often than not, it is not worth the time and costs to pursue a claim that is only $3k.

2. The response will be provided in point form due to the number of sub-parts
  • First of all, it may not be easy to find a pro bono lawyer for civil cases, although you may seek legal advice from those legal clinics in the community centres.
  • Second, given the quantum of the claim, any legal action will have to be brought before the Small Claims Tribunal and there is no need for legal representation - parties will argue the case before a judge personally.
  • Third, your best shot to fight this case is perhaps to argue that (1) the damages (i.e., $3k) is not a genuine pre-estimate of the loss, and (2) even if (1) is true, the agency ought to have mitigated its loss by seeking another candidate.
    • The law mandates that all liquidated damages clause (i.e., clauses that fix an amount of money to be paid for breach of contract) must be a genuine pre-estimate of the loss incurred by the innocent party. However, the burden of proof lies on you.
    • The law is not settled on whether liquidated damages clauses are subject to the principles of mitigation, but it may be worth a shot if you reach the stage of legal proceedings. This will likely depend on how much time the agency had (to find another candidate) between your repudiation of contract and the actual commencement date of the contract.
3. The "contract" will still be valid. In contract law, arguing that a contract is void due to duress is likely to succeed only when there are physical threats involved. Thus, being constantly "chased" by the recruiter would not be considered as duress.

4. This is a private matter between you and the agency, so I'm afraid there is no governing body that can help you.

Your best bet is probably to hope that $3k is not worth the troubles for the agency. Otherwise, if this matter is brought to the SCT, you can still counter-offer with a lower amount to settle the case. Please feel free to reach out (either here or via PM) if you have any further question.

Once again, I stress that none of the above constitutes legal advice.

Hi LordDenning, thank for your response and the detailed advice!
The agency has replied me stating they will not be pursuing the case. So I got off scot-free.
Guess I got lucky or the agency really find it not worth the time and cost just for 3K >.<
 

LordDenning

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Hi LordDenning, thank for your response and the detailed advice!
The agency has replied me stating they will not be pursuing the case. So I got off scot-free.
Guess I got lucky or the agency really find it not worth the time and cost just for 3K >.<
Glad to hear that things have been resolved in your favour - $3k is really too minor to commence (or even consider) legal action. Furthermore, it will look really bad on the agency if you publicise it on social media, so I guess it's not worth the risk of bad publicity for them as well.
 

Raigar

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Hi LordDenning,

First I would like to thank you for sharing your knowledge. I'm one of the scam victim amounted to $18k, you can find the details in this page https://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/threads/franchisor-scam-still-active-beware.6123117/ . Is there's no legal way to get my $18k back? Most of the lawyer that i've consulted with saying it's not worthy to pursue this legal case for such amount of money and even though this guy has been captured by the SPF, but he pleaded not guilty and currently out on bail and start scamming again.

The victim of the new scam contacted me and fortunately I managed to stop the scam from going further. Unfortunately, the new victim does not wish to get involve further and are not willing to report the matters to the police. At the same time, the police wont take my report even though I have the list of the hard evidence because I'm not the direct victim. Hence, I took the matters into my own hand and contacted the scammer and told him to watch his back. Unfortunately, the scammer are using that words against me and has reported me to the police, afterwards I have been interrogated by the police because according to them "watch your back" is a highly threatening words, so there is a possibility that I might get prosecuted in the future.

The scammer still roaming free while awating for trial, instead I was the one that got into a trouble with police. What with Singapore Justice system? This is really frustrating.
 
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firsttimebuyer

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Glad to hear that things have been resolved in your favour - $3k is really too minor to commence (or even consider) legal action. Furthermore, it will look really bad on the agency if you publicise it on social media, so I guess it's not worth the risk of bad publicity for them as well.
Hello, Lord Denning, very sorry to bother you but I was wondering if you are still around aa i need some advice from you.
 

LordDenning

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Apologies for the late response - I'm not monitoring this thread often due to the infrequency of the posts and my current workload at work.

Hi LordDenning,

First I would like to thank you for sharing your knowledge. I'm one of the scam victim amounted to $18k, you can find the details in this page https://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/threads/franchisor-scam-still-active-beware.6123117/ . Is there's no legal way to get my $18k back? Most of the lawyer that i've consulted with saying it's not worthy to pursue this legal case for such amount of money and even though this guy has been captured by the SPF, but he pleaded not guilty and currently out on bail and start scamming again.

The victim of the new scam contacted me and fortunately I managed to stop the scam from going further. Unfortunately, the new victim does not wish to get involve further and are not willing to report the matters to the police. At the same time, the police wont take my report even though I have the list of the hard evidence because I'm not the direct victim. Hence, I took the matters into my own hand and contacted the scammer and told him to watch his back. Unfortunately, the scammer are using that words against me and has reported me to the police, afterwards I have been interrogated by the police because according to them "watch your back" is a highly threatening words, so there is a possibility that I might get prosecuted in the future.

The scammer still roaming free while awating for trial, instead I was the one that got into a trouble with police. What with Singapore Justice system? This is really frustrating.

Given the quantum of your loss, I do agree with the lawyers you have consulted that it may not be worth it to engage a lawyer to recover the monies as lawyers' fees may well go above $18k. However, if you wish, you may file for a claim against the scammer in a Small Claims Tribunal ("SCT") on your own without the assistance of a lawyer - in fact, lawyers are not permitted to be present during the hearing.

The issue, however, is whether the scammer has the ability to pay you back. While you may possible get a favourable judgment against him, it will only be a paper judgment if the scammer is unable to return you the money and you would have lost all the time and energy trying to win the case in the SCT.

As for the police report made against you, I cannot comment much as I do not know the details. However, if you only told him to watch his back, I don't think AGC will be interested to pursue this and charge you in court.

Hello, Lord Denning, very sorry to bother you but I was wondering if you are still around aa i need some advice from you.

Hi there, yes I'm still around. I will try to monitor this thread more often if there's more questions incoming.



Hi, I have replied to you PM.
 

firsttimebuyer

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Hi there, yes I'm still around. I will try to monitor this thread more often if there's more questions incoming.
Hi LordDenning,

Thank you very much for your reply! I hope all is okay with your work :)

As for my earlier query, it is okay, problem solved, it was about a potential conflict of interest in procurement matters and I was afraid my boss was involved in hanky-panky stuff, but it is okay now!

Thanks! :)
 

firsttimebuyer

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Hi all,

I've recently graduated from one of the law schools in Singapore and I'm hoping to start a mini-legal clinic here to put what I've learnt to good use for the benefit of the community. I'm not qualified yet to do pro-bono work at legal clinics but I thought I could perhaps help with what I know, especially when there's nothing to do during this circuit breaker. Understanding the limits of my experience, I may consult my professors and/or peers if necessary.

Please feel free to ask any legal question that you may have (if the information is sensitive, please generalize it or drop me a PM) and I'll assist to the best of my abilities.

As I have yet to be qualified as a practicing lawyer and given the (in)formalities of this forum, I'll only provide my opinion on the facts presented. The information provided on this forum does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal advice. Please seek official legal advice if necessary. For the avoidance of doubt, nothing said on this forum shall be held to establish any lawyer-client relationship.
There is something i have been meaning to ask:

1) What exactly is conveyencing?

2) Why does conveyencing need to be carried out by lawers? Can't realtors or some corporate secretary do it as well?
 

PellyWelly

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Hi all,

I've recently graduated from one of the law schools in Singapore and I'm hoping to start a mini-legal clinic here to put what I've learnt to good use for the benefit of the community. I'm not qualified yet to do pro-bono work at legal clinics but I thought I could perhaps help with what I know, especially when there's nothing to do during this circuit breaker. Understanding the limits of my experience, I may consult my professors and/or peers if necessary.

Please feel free to ask any legal question that you may have (if the information is sensitive, please generalize it or drop me a PM) and I'll assist to the best of my abilities.

As I have yet to be qualified as a practicing lawyer and given the (in)formalities of this forum, I'll only provide my opinion on the facts presented. The information provided on this forum does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal advice. Please seek official legal advice if necessary. For the avoidance of doubt, nothing said on this forum shall be held to establish any lawyer-client relationship.
Hi Sir, had an RTA earlier this year in February involving drink driving. I crashed onto a stationary construction truck. While I was brought back to the police station, my vehicle was towed away to TP pound.After about 17 hours later, received a call from TP saying that my cargot burnt along with 9 other vehicles. They also informed me unofficially via whatsapp that they will compensate the damages. Fast forward to today, i was informed that my vehicle is now under AGC's custody as the compensation payout is huge as it involved 9 other vehicles.

A) My sentencing to the drink driving charges is now pending to the fact that I wrote in to AGC to enquire onmy vehicle status. Should I engage a lawyer to open up the case?

B) The construction lorry is now suing me almost 100k in damages. Since my motorcar insurance is void due to drink driving, should I engage a lawyer to help me defend/dispute the amount or should I just declare bankrupt since I cannot afford it?

Thank you in advance Lord!
 

qhong61

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Hi Sir, had an RTA earlier this year in February involving drink driving. I crashed onto a stationary construction truck. While I was brought back to the police station, my vehicle was towed away to TP pound.After about 17 hours later, received a call from TP saying that my cargot burnt along with 9 other vehicles. They also informed me unofficially via whatsapp that they will compensate the damages. Fast forward to today, i was informed that my vehicle is now under AGC's custody as the compensation payout is huge as it involved 9 other vehicles.

A) My sentencing to the drink driving charges is now pending to the fact that I wrote in to AGC to enquire onmy vehicle status. Should I engage a lawyer to open up the case?

B) The construction lorry is now suing me almost 100k in damages. Since my motorcar insurance is void due to drink driving, should I engage a lawyer to help me defend/dispute the amount or should I just declare bankrupt since I cannot afford it?

Thank you in advance Lord!
Sound serious. No jail term?
 

Grey000

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Hi LordDenning, thank for your response and the detailed advice!
The agency has replied me stating they will not be pursuing the case. So I got off scot-free.
Guess I got lucky or the agency really find it not worth the time and cost just for 3K >.<
Hi HowardtheDuck, I'm experiencing a similar situation, do you mind sharing more about your case so I can understand better. Appreciate it thanks!!
 

Grey000

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Glad to hear that things have been resolved in your favour - $3k is really too minor to commence (or even consider) legal action. Furthermore, it will look really bad on the agency if you publicise it on social media, so I guess it's not worth the risk of bad publicity for them as well.
Hi LordDenning, hope you're still here! Do you have any updates or experiences regarding this issue as I'm in a similar situation but I'm a new member so cannot pm you. Thanks so much
 

mummy_mouse

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How to qualify for pro bono legal aid? What is the household income level to qualify? I want to seek pro bono legal advices.

Thank you.
 

coutuser

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Pertaining to question 7

The stated implications of S61 was true from my experience as a school boy over 20 years ago. A genital examination was conducted upon me by a female practitioner when I was 12 years old. The examination was professionally conducted but my consent was never sought. I am not aware of current practices and whether or not schools have internal policies that address such issues. However, the implications of S61 seemingly disregard the modesty of male students and place extremely degrading connotations upon male medical officers.

It will seeming be fair and appropriate to amend the 2nd paragraph of S61 to read

‘Provided that students over the age of 10 shall not be examined by any person except with their consent and with the consent of the principal.'


Thanks again.
Maybe your parents sign moe consent form but u don't know
 

TooFree

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Hi Denning,

One interesting prospective as regards to China latest 144-hour Visa, one of the fulfillment criteria is to depart from Destination X -> China Y -> Destination Z with a 144-hours maximum allowable stayed at Y. And you cannot book an outbound ticket after you reached Y.

To my understanding, this 144-hours Visa is issued on the spot when departing or upon arrival.

My story

My booked itinerary goes like SG -> Hangzhou -> SG (transit) -> KL (2-trip tickets)

On that day, I met with an unofficial mishap hence I am absence from the flight. I tried seeking refund from the airline but to no avail.

Since I have no official document for proof of absence, can I still file a claim against that airline using lemon law for seller's negligence over 'on-the-spot visa' air tickets booked from their online system?

Thanks.
 

dilphinus

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Hi Denning,

One interesting prospective as regards to China latest 144-hour Visa, one of the fulfillment criteria is to depart from Destination X -> China Y -> Destination Z with a 144-hours maximum allowable stayed at Y. And you cannot book an outbound ticket after you reached Y.

To my understanding, this 144-hours Visa is issued on the spot when departing or upon arrival.

My story

My booked itinerary goes like SG -> Hangzhou -> SG (transit) -> KL (2-trip tickets)

On that day, I met with an unofficial mishap hence I am absence from the flight. I tried seeking refund from the airline but to no avail.

Since I have no official document for proof of absence, can I still file a claim against that airline using lemon law for seller's negligence over 'on-the-spot visa' air tickets booked from their online system?

Thanks.
I think your unofficial mishap is that you weren't granted the visa. It is stated very clearly that for the visa free stay, you need an onward ticket to a 3rd country. It's not valid for Singapore to China to Singapore. It has to be Singapore to China to a 3rd country.

It is not the airline's responsibility to ensure you have a valid visa to enter the country. It is your own responsibility to ensure that you have the right to enter the country, in this case, China.

For whatever reason that you didn't make it to the flight, it's not the airline's responsibility to compensate you.

And also for SG -> Hangzhou -> SG (transit) -> KL (2-trip tickets), this is not destination X -> China Y -> destination Z. Hangzhou was meant to be the 'transit' point (for the visa).

It is destination X (SG) -> China Y (Hangzhou)-> destination X (SG)

Destination X -> China Y -> destination Z is SG -> Hangzhou -> KL or any country except for China and Singapore.
 
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