TCL Industries v ICC Chemical: Discovery Dispute in Breach of Contract Claim

TCL Industries (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd sued ICC Chemical Corp for breach of contract in the High Court of Singapore. TCL claimed damages for late delivery and non-delivery of benzene. After an interlocutory judgment in TCL's favor, ICC Chemical sought further discovery, which was partially granted by the Assistant Registrar. TCL appealed the discovery order. Belinda Ang Saw Ean J allowed TCL's appeal, finding the requested documents either already disclosed or irrelevant to the damages claimed.

1. Case Overview

1.1 Court

High Court

1.2 Outcome

Appeal Allowed

1.3 Case Type

Civil

1.4 Judgment Type

Grounds of Decision

1.5 Jurisdiction

Singapore

1.6 Description

Appeal regarding discovery order in TCL Industries v ICC Chemical Corp. The court allowed the appeal, finding the requested documents irrelevant or already disclosed.

1.7 Decision Date

4 December 2007

2. Parties and Outcomes

Party Name	Role	Type	Outcome	Outcome Type	Counsels
TCL Industries (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd	Plaintiff, Appellant	Corporation	Appeal Allowed	Won	Simon Jones of Grays LLC Seeni Syed Ahamed Kabeer of Grays LLC
ICC Chemical Corp	Defendant, Respondent	Corporation	Appeal Dismissed	Lost	Peter Gabriel of Gabriel Law Corporation Kelvin Tan of Gabriel Law Corporation

3. Judges

Judge Name	Title	Delivered Judgment
Belinda Ang Saw Ean	J	Yes

4. Counsels

Counsel Name	Organization
Simon Jones	Grays LLC
Seeni Syed Ahamed Kabeer	Grays LLC
Peter Gabriel	Gabriel Law Corporation
Kelvin Tan	Gabriel Law Corporation

4. Facts

TCL contracted to purchase 3000 mt of benzene from ICC Chemical at US$387 per mt.
ICC Chemical only delivered 2000 mt of benzene, with delivery on September 11, 2003.
TCL's plant closed for 8 days due to the late delivery.
ICC Chemical requested a price revision for the remaining 1000 mt due to increased benzene prices.
ICC Chemical announced on May 24, 2004, that it would not deliver the remaining 1000 mt.
TCL claimed damages for breach of contract, including wasted costs.
The trial judge found ICC Chemical liable for the late delivery and non-delivery.

5. Formal Citations

TCL Industries (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd v ICC Chemical Corp, Suit 24/2005, RA 137/2007, [2007] SGHC 211
, , [2006] SGHC 88

6. Timeline

Date	Event
2003-08-01	Contract stipulated benzene delivery before the second half of August 2003.
2003-09-11	ICC Chemical Corp delivered 2000 mt of benzene, short of 1000 mt.
2003-10-01	TCL Industries notified ICC Chemical of plant closure due to breach.
2004-05-24	ICC Chemical announced it would not deliver the remaining 1000 mt of benzene.
2005-01-01	Suit filed by TCL Industries against ICC Chemical Corp.
2006-03-06	Complaint filed by ICC Chemical in the US District Court of Southern New York was dismissed.
2006-05-30	Interlocutory judgment entered in favor of TCL Industries.
2006-09-29	Appeal heard by the US Court of Appeal, 2nd Circuit.
2006-11-08	Court of Appeal affirmed the trial judge’s decision.
2007-03-13	Defendant asked for further discovery of documents.
2007-03-29	Plaintiff filed a supplemental list of documents.
2007-04-30	Summons entered by defendant for further discovery.
2007-05-21	Assistant Registrar ordered limited discovery of 12 categories of documents.
2007-06-25	Hearing on the appeal.
2007-07-02	Defendant sent request for further arguments.
2007-12-05	Appeal allowed by the High Court.

7. Legal Issues

Discovery
- Outcome: The court held that the requested documents were either already disclosed or irrelevant, and allowed the appeal against the discovery order.
- Category: Procedural
- Sub-Issues:
  - Relevance of documents
  - Necessity of documents
  - Scope of discovery
- Related Cases:
  - [1985] QB 16
  - [1972] 1 QB 60
  - [2006] 2 SLR 599
  - [2003] 1 Lloyd’s Rep 287
  - (1854) 9 Exch. 341
  - [2002] 3 SLR 345
Breach of Contract
- Outcome: The court previously found the defendant liable for breach of contract, and this appeal concerned the scope of discovery for assessing damages.
- Category: Substantive
- Sub-Issues:
  - Late delivery
  - Non-delivery
  - Mitigation of losses
  - Damages assessment
- Related Cases:
  - [2003] 1 Lloyd’s Rep 287
Damages
- Outcome: The court addressed the measure of damages, noting the plaintiff's election to claim wasted costs and the relevance of the price differential measure for non-delivery.
- Category: Substantive
- Sub-Issues:
  - Wasted costs
  - Loss of profits
  - Price differential measure
- Related Cases:
  - [1985] QB 16
  - [1972] 1 QB 60
  - [2006] 2 SLR 599

8. Remedies Sought

Monetary Damages

9. Cause of Actions

Breach of Contract

10. Practice Areas

Commercial Litigation

11. Industries

Chemical

12. Cited Cases

Case Name	Court	Affirmed	Citation	Jurisdiction	Significance
C.C.C Films (London) Ltd v Impact Quadrant Films Ltd	QB	Yes	[1985] QB 16	England	Cited for the principle that a plaintiff has an unfettered choice to claim loss of profits or wasted expenditure.
Anglia Television Ltd v Reed	QB	Yes	[1972] 1 QB 60	England	Cited for the principle that a plaintiff can claim wasted expenditure incurred before the contract if it was reasonably in the contemplation of the parties.
Van Der Horst Engineering Pte Ltd v Rotol Singapore Ltd	High Court	Yes	[2006] 2 SLR 599	Singapore	Cited for adopting the decision in Anglia Television Ltd v Reed regarding wasted expenditure.
Dampskibsselskabet “Norden” A/S v Andre & Cie SA	N/A	No	[2003] 1 Lloyd’s Rep 287	N/A	Cited for explaining the rationale for the price differential measure of damages.
Hadley v Baxendale	N/A	No	(1854) 9 Exch. 341	N/A	Cited for the principle that damages should arise naturally from the breach of contract.
Tan Chin Seng & Others v Raffles Town Club Pte Ltd	Court of Appeal	No	[2002] 3 SLR 345	Singapore	Cited for observations on circumscribing the 'train of inquiry' formulation under Order 24 Rule 5.

13. Applicable Rules

Rule Name
No applicable rules

14. Applicable Statutes

Statute Name	Jurisdiction
Rules of Court (Cap 322, R 5, 2006 Rev Ed) O 24 r 5	Singapore
Sale of Goods Act (Cap 393, 1999 Rev Ed) s 51(3)	Singapore

15. Key Terms and Keywords

15.1 Key Terms

Benzene
Maleic anhydride
Wasted costs
Price differential
Specific discovery
Breach date rule
Mitigation of losses

15.2 Keywords

breach of contract
discovery
damages
benzene
maleic anhydride
wasted costs
Singapore High Court

17. Areas of Law

Area Name	Relevance Score
Breach of Contract	80
Civil Practice	75
Contract Law	70
Measure of Damages	70
Discovery	65
Evidence	50
Estoppel	30
Res Judicata	30

16. Subjects

Contract Law
Civil Procedure
Discovery
Damages