SINGAPORE – A Singaporean who lost his mental capacity after a road accident in Malaysia six years ago was awarded $4.75 million in compensation by the High Court in June.

This could be the highest sum so far awarded by a court here to a Singapore victim of an accident in Malaysia, said lawyer Raj Singh Shergill, who represented the victim, Mr Lim Chun Yong.

Lim was 38 years old at the time of the accident. Since then, he has required full-time care.

Most importantly, said Shergill, who was recently rated one of Singapore’s top lawyers in an annual survey of top law firms, is that the case asserts that victims can take legal action in Singapore, rather than Malaysia. , if circumstances and conditions justify it. .

“Where pre-trial and future losses occur primarily in Singapore, courts will assess personal injury claims based on the merits of the case, regardless of location,” he added.

For Shergill, success comes from defending the layman’s cause against larger entities in personal injury claims ranging from traffic accidents to medical negligence.

Not only was he named one of the highest-rated lawyers in The Straits Times-Statista’s Best Law Firms 2025 survey, but his firm Lee Shergill LLP also topped the list in the field of negligence (professional/accident/personal injury). The company has performed well in this area in previous surveys.

The survey conducted in early 2024 by The Straits Times and Statista identifies the best law firms in 18 fields of law, based on recommendations from lawyers, clients and others.

Shergill said qualifying was no easy task for him and his team, given the enormous challenges of taking on larger teams with deeper resources, in an area that appears undervalued compared to more lucrative commercial work.

In Mr Lim’s case, lawsuits were filed against six defendants.

The accident on February 12, 2018 involved three vehicles in a pile-up along a stretch of road about 270 meters from Kempas Toll Plaza in Johor. The first vehicle in the chain was a semi-trailer, while the middle vehicle was a Toyota Innova, in which Mr Lim was in the front seat. The vehicle behind the collision chain was a BMW X3.

None of the vehicles were registered in Singapore.

Lim, who was left unconscious and seriously injured, had to be pulled from the wrecked car and taken to Sultanah Aminah Hospital in Johor Bahru. The next day, he was taken to the intensive care unit at Singapore General Hospital.

He is now 44 years old and has lost mental capacity due to severe brain damage.

His wife, Mrs. Janet Fung, initially cared for him at home with a maid, but as his physical injuries healed and he regained more physical strength, it became more difficult to manage his behavioral disorders.

Unable to cope and suffering from the exhaustion of her caregivers, Madame Fung admitted her husband to a nursing home after consulting her doctors.

She sued all five defendants for negligence, personal injury and loss suffered. Later, with the court’s approval, the insurer of the Toyota vehicle in which Mr Lim was traveling was added as a sixth defendant.

Following a 12-day trial in the High Court, Judicial Commissioner Alex Wong found the five defendants jointly and individually responsible for Mr Lim’s injuries.

In a reserved judgment handed down on June 10, he attributed 50 percent of the blame to the semi-trailer driver, Mohd Jafri Abdul Hamid, and his employer, Syarikat Continent Lorry Transport.

The judge found Toyota driver Jeffrey Yap, along with car owner Liew Loy Sang, to be 30 percent responsible, and placed the remaining 20 percent of blame on BMW driver Low Woon Hong.

The judge awarded a total of more than $4.7 million in claims, which included $1.87 million for the cost of full-time nursing home care for Mr Lim.

Rejecting the defense claim that Madam Fung had a legal obligation to care for Mr Lim in her own home, he cited a precedent case from 2022 that made clear that family members should not be seen as “free caregivers” to who the defendants can care for. advantage of reducing the amount they had to pay as fair compensation to the plaintiff.

“The risks of Mr Lim harming himself or others outside the controlled confines of ongoing care in a nursing home are too great to ignore,” the judge said.

It awarded nearly $1.6 million for loss of future earnings on the basis that Lim could have worked until the retirement age of 70, but was unlikely to return to work. Mr Lim had a finance degree from overseas and was working in an office at the time of the accident.

“In this case, compensation should be awarded for loss of future income, and not compensation for loss of earning capacity,” the judge said.

The award also included compensation for pain and suffering, medical expenses, and future occupational therapy.

The defendants are appealing the case.

This article was first published in The times of the strait. Permission required for reproduction.

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