Tan Chor Chuan v Tan Yeow Hiang: Striking Out Defence for Breach of Discovery Obligations

In Tan Chor Chuan and Others v Tan Yeow Hiang Kenneth and Others, the High Court of Singapore heard the plaintiffs' application to strike out the defendants' defence for alleged breach of discovery obligations and pre-action destruction of evidence in a defamation suit. The plaintiffs, members of the Singapore Chess Federation (SCF), claimed the defendants, members of the Executive Council of the SCF, failed to disclose relevant emails and audio recordings. AR Joyce Low dismissed the application, finding insufficient evidence of document suppression or abuse of process to warrant striking out the defence.

1. Case Overview

1.1 Court

High Court

1.2 Outcome

Application dismissed with costs.

1.3 Case Type

Civil

1.4 Judgment Type

Grounds of Decision

1.5 Jurisdiction

Singapore

1.6 Description

Application to strike out defence for breach of discovery obligations was dismissed. The court found no clear evidence of document suppression or abuse of process.

1.7 Decision Date

16 November 2004

2. Parties and Outcomes

Party Name	Role	Type	Outcome	Outcome Type	Counsels
Chia Chung Mun Alphonsus	Defendant	Individual	Defence Not Struck Out	Won	Alvin Tan of Wong Thomas and Leong
Goh Hin Tiang	Defendant	Individual	Defence Not Struck Out	Won	Alvin Tan of Wong Thomas and Leong
Seow Yongli	Defendant	Individual	Defence Not Struck Out	Won	Alvin Tan of Wong Thomas and Leong
Rolles Rudolf Jurgen August	Plaintiff	Individual	Application Dismissed	Lost	Melvin See of Wong Partnership Prakash Pillai of Wong Partnership
Tan Yeow Hiang Kenneth	Defendant	Individual	Defence Not Struck Out	Won	Alvin Tan of Wong Thomas and Leong
Chan Lai Fung	Defendant	Individual	Defence Not Struck Out	Won	Alvin Tan of Wong Thomas and Leong
Tan Lian Ann	Defendant	Individual	Defence Not Struck Out	Won	Alvin Tan of Wong Thomas and Leong
Yeo Kok Ching Alan	Defendant	Individual	Defence Not Struck Out	Won	Alvin Tan of Wong Thomas and Leong
Chong Yeh Shen Jason	Defendant	Individual	Defence Not Struck Out	Won	Alvin Tan of Wong Thomas and Leong
Lim Ting Fai Lawrence	Defendant	Individual	Defence Not Struck Out	Won	Alvin Tan of Wong Thomas and Leong
Wong Loong Tat	Defendant	Individual	Defence Not Struck Out	Won	Alvin Tan of Wong Thomas and Leong
Tan Chor Chuan	Plaintiff	Individual	Application Dismissed	Lost	Melvin See of Wong Partnership Prakash Pillai of Wong Partnership
Yap Swee Chee	Plaintiff	Individual	Application Dismissed	Lost	Melvin See of Wong Partnership Prakash Pillai of Wong Partnership
Ee Boon Peng Lawrence	Plaintiff	Individual	Application Dismissed	Lost	Melvin See of Wong Partnership Prakash Pillai of Wong Partnership
Ong Chong Ghee	Plaintiff	Individual	Application Dismissed	Lost	Melvin See of Wong Partnership Prakash Pillai of Wong Partnership
Chern Seng Pau	Plaintiff	Individual	Application Dismissed	Lost	Melvin See of Wong Partnership Prakash Pillai of Wong Partnership
Yung Yew Kong	Plaintiff	Individual	Application Dismissed	Lost	Melvin See of Wong Partnership Prakash Pillai of Wong Partnership
Tan Lian Seng	Plaintiff	Individual	Application Dismissed	Lost	Melvin See of Wong Partnership Prakash Pillai of Wong Partnership
Menon Nelly	Plaintiff	Individual	Application Dismissed	Lost	Melvin See of Wong Partnership Prakash Pillai of Wong Partnership
Aplin Nicholas Giles	Defendant	Individual	Defence Not Struck Out	Won	Alvin Tan of Wong Thomas and Leong

3. Judges

Judge Name	Title	Delivered Judgment
Joyce Low Wei Lin	Assistant Registrar	Yes

4. Counsels

Counsel Name	Organization
Alvin Tan	Wong Thomas and Leong
Melvin See	Wong Partnership
Prakash Pillai	Wong Partnership

4. Facts

Plaintiffs are members of the Singapore Chess Federation (SCF).
Defendants are members of the Executive Council of the SCF.
Plaintiffs requisitioned an EGM to ask the defendants to step down.
Defendants published a document on the SCF’s website that the plaintiffs considered defamatory.
A consent order was recorded that the offending words in the document were defamatory.
The defendants filed a list of documents, which disclosed four cassette tapes containing audio recordings of the AGM but not the Emails.
The tenth defendant deposed that he used to have a cassette tape recording of the EGM but misplaced it.
The defendants stated that none of the Emails was in their possession because they deleted them shortly after the conclusion of the EGM as part of the regular housekeeping of their email accounts.

5. Formal Citations

Tan Chor Chuan and Others v Tan Yeow Hiang Kenneth and Others, Suit 261/2004, SIC 4932/2004, [2004] SGHC 259

6. Timeline

Date	Event
2004-01-12	Extra-ordinary general meeting held
2004-05-07	Order of court made for parties to provide discovery
2004-06-26	Singapore Chess Federation’s Annual General Meeting held
2004-07-05	Court recorded a consent order that the offending words in the document were defamatory of the plaintiffs
2004-03-31	Action commenced against the defendants
2004-11-17	Application dismissed

7. Legal Issues

Breach of Discovery Obligations
- Outcome: The court found insufficient evidence to prove a breach of discovery obligations.
- Category: Procedural
- Sub-Issues:
  - Non-production of documents
  - Suppression of evidence
Pre-Action Destruction of Evidence
- Outcome: The court found no sinister motive in the deletion of emails to warrant intervention.
- Category: Procedural
- Sub-Issues:
  - Abuse of process
  - Attempting to pervert the course of justice

8. Remedies Sought

Striking out of defence
Judgment for the plaintiffs
Unless order for production of documents

9. Cause of Actions

Defamation

10. Practice Areas

Litigation

11. Industries

Recreation

12. Cited Cases

Case Name	Court	Affirmed	Citation	Jurisdiction	Significance
Soh Lup Chee and Ors v Seow Boon Cheng and Anor	Singapore High Court	Yes	[2002] 2 SLR 267	Singapore	Cited for the principles governing the exercise of the power to strike out a defence for failure to comply with discovery obligations.
Samsung Corporation v Chinese Chamber Realty Pte Ltd	Court of Appeal	Yes	[2004] 1 SLR 382	Singapore	Cited for the touchstones of 'need', 'justice of the case' and 'prevention of abuse' in exercising the court's inherent power.
Wee Soon Kim v Law Society of Singapore	Court of Appeal	Yes	[2001] 4 SLR 25	Singapore	Cited for the principle that courts should avoid formulating specific tests that circumscribe the exercise of its inherent power.
British American Tobacco Australia Services v Cowell and McCabe	Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of Victoria	No	[2002] VSCA 197	Australia	Cited for the 'McCabe test' regarding pre-action destruction of evidence and attempting to pervert the course of justice.
Douglas & Ors v Hello! Ltd & Ors	English High Court	No	[2003] EWHC 55 (Ch)	England and Wales	Cited for the application of the 'McCabe test' in the context of pre-action destruction of evidence.

13. Applicable Rules

Rule Name
No applicable rules

14. Applicable Statutes

Statute Name	Jurisdiction
Rules of Court O 24 r 16	Singapore
Penal Code s 204	Singapore

15. Key Terms and Keywords

15.1 Key Terms

Discovery obligations
Pre-action destruction of evidence
Abuse of process
Singapore Chess Federation
Extra-ordinary general meeting
Emails
Affidavit of documents
McCabe test

15.2 Keywords

Defamation
Discovery
Striking out
Evidence
Singapore Chess Federation

17. Areas of Law

Area Name	Relevance Score
Discovery of documents	85
Civil Practice	75
Striking out	70
Inherent Power of the Court	60
Evidence	60
Duty of Candour	50
Abuse of Process	50
Contempt of Court	40
Estoppel	30

16. Subjects

Civil Procedure
Defamation
Discovery
Evidence