Tort law

• Main Authors: AMIRTHALINGAM, Kumaralingam, CHAN, Gary Kok Yew
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2016
• Subjects: Torts; tort law; Singapore; Asian Studies
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sol_research/2342; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/sol_research/article/4299/viewcontent/9728_26_Tort_Law__CC__ES.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

The plaintiff in Tan Bee Hock v F G Builders Pte Ltd was riding a motorbike when he skidded on a metal plate placed by the defendantat the entrance to a condominium. The plaintiff sued for his injuries in negligence, nuisance, and breach of statutory duty. On the facts, Kannan Ramesh JC (as his Honour then was) found that there was nothing unsafe about the metal plate and dismissed the claims in nuisance and negligence. Having found that the defendants had not done anything unsafe, Ramesh JC also dismissed the breach of statutory duty action, and in doing so, observed that even if the defendant had breached the Code of Practice for Traffic Control at Work Zone (2006 Ed), this code was not intended to give rise to a private cause of action, being designed only to offer practical guidance on traffic safety rather than to impose legal obligations.