Lai Wai Keong Eugene v Loo Wei Yen: Negligence Claim for Paraplegic Injuries

In Lai Wai Keong Eugene v Loo Wei Yen, the High Court of Singapore heard an appeal by the plaintiff, Lai Wai Keong Eugene, against the Assistant Registrar's assessment of damages for loss of future earnings and future medical expenses. Lai Wai Keong Eugene sustained catastrophic injuries due to the defendant's negligence, resulting in paraplegia. The plaintiff sought damages for negligence. The court dismissed the appeal, upholding the Assistant Registrar's original assessment.

1. Case Overview

1.1 Court

High Court

1.2 Outcome

Appeal Dismissed

1.3 Case Type

Civil

1.4 Judgment Type

Grounds of Decision

1.5 Jurisdiction

Singapore

1.6 Description

High Court judgment on a negligence claim for catastrophic injuries sustained by Lai Wai Keong Eugene, resulting in paraplegia, and the assessment of damages for loss of future earnings and medical expenses.

1.7 Decision Date

27 June 2013

2. Parties and Outcomes

Party Name	Role	Type	Outcome	Outcome Type	Counsels
Lai Wai Keong Eugene	Plaintiff, Appellant	Individual	Appeal Dismissed	Lost	Anthony Wee of United Legal Alliance LLC Pak Waltan of United Legal Alliance LLC
Loo Wei Yen	Defendant, Respondent	Individual	Judgment upheld	Won	Toh Kok Seng of Lee & Lee Desmond Tan of Lee & Lee

3. Judges

Judge Name	Title	Delivered Judgment
Vinodh Coomaraswamy	Justice of the High Court	Yes

4. Counsels

Counsel Name	Organization
Anthony Wee	United Legal Alliance LLC
Pak Waltan	United Legal Alliance LLC
Toh Kok Seng	Lee & Lee
Desmond Tan	Lee & Lee

4. Facts

The plaintiff suffered catastrophic injuries in a motor vehicle accident, resulting in paraplegia.
The defendant admitted 90% liability for the plaintiff's injuries.
The Assistant Registrar assessed total damages at $2,073,432.42.
The plaintiff appealed against the Assistant Registrar's award for loss of future earnings and future medical expenses.
The plaintiff was 34 years old at the time of the injuries and worked as a Senior Logistics Executive at DHL.
The plaintiff sought to depart from the conventional approach in assessing loss of future earnings.
The Assistant Registrar applied a multiplier of 13 for loss of future earnings and 15 for future medical expenses.

5. Formal Citations

Lai Wai Keong Eugene v Loo Wei Yen, Suit No 727 of 2009 (Registrar's Appeal No 273 of 2012), [2013] SGHC 123

6. Timeline

Date	Event
2007-04-12	Collision between the plaintiff's motorcycle and a car driven by the defendant
2009-08-25	Plaintiff commenced an action against the defendant seeking damages for negligence
2013-06-28	Judgment issued

7. Legal Issues

Assessment of Damages for Loss of Future Earnings
- Outcome: The court upheld the Assistant Registrar's decision to apply the conventional approach in assessing damages for loss of future earnings.
- Category: Substantive
- Sub-Issues:
  - Multiplier selection
  - Multiplicand determination
  - Discount for vicissitudes of life
  - Discount for accelerated receipt
- Related Cases:
  - [2012] 3 SLR 1003
  - [1983-1984] SLR(R) 388
  - [1992] 1 SLR(R) 779
  - [2011] 3 SLR 610
Assessment of Damages for Future Medical Expenses
- Outcome: The court upheld the Assistant Registrar's decision on the multiplier used for assessing damages for future medical expenses.
- Category: Substantive
- Sub-Issues:
  - Multiplier selection
  - Life expectancy
  - Discount for contingencies
  - Discount for accelerated receipt
- Related Cases:
  - [2012] 3 SLR 496
  - [2004] SGHC 27
  - [2003] SGHC 240
  - [2004] 2 SLR(R) 361
  - [2004] 3 SLR(R) 543

8. Remedies Sought

Monetary Damages

9. Cause of Actions

Negligence

10. Practice Areas

Personal Injury Litigation

11. Industries

Logistics

12. Cited Cases

Case Name	Court	Affirmed	Citation	Jurisdiction	Significance
Poh Huat Heng Corp Pte Ltd and others v Hafizul Islam Kofil Uddin	Court of Appeal	Yes	[2012] 3 SLR 1003	Singapore	Cited for principles regarding the assessment of damages for loss of future earnings, but the court clarified that it does not endorse abandoning the conventional approach.
Lai Wee Lian v Singapore Bus Service (1978) Ltd	Privy Council	Yes	[1983-1984] SLR(R) 388	Singapore	Cited as endorsing the conventional approach to assessing loss of future earnings.
Tay Cheng Yan v Tock Hua Bin and another	Court of Appeal	Yes	[1992] 1 SLR(R) 779	Singapore	Cited as endorsing the conventional approach to assessing loss of future earnings.
Koh Chai Kwang v Teo Ai Ling (by her next friend, Chua Wee Bee)	Court of Appeal	Yes	[2011] 3 SLR 610	Singapore	Cited for the principle that assessing damages for loss of future earnings is an exercise in crystal ball gazing.
Wells v Wells	House of Lords	Yes	[1999] 1 AC 345	England	Cited for the principle that the underlying objective in fixing the multiplier is to derive a final award that provides the plaintiff with full compensation to the nearest extent possible.
Paul v Rendell	N/A	Yes	(1981) 55 ALJR 371	N/A	Cited for the principle that the assessment of future economic loss involves a double exercise in the art of prophesying.
Ho Yiu v Lim Peng Seng	N/A	Yes	[2004] 4 SLR(R) 675	Singapore	Cited as authority for using a segmented multiplier with differing multiplicands.
Balanalagirisamy Gowri Rajeswari and another (administrators of the estate of Radhakrishnan Hari Babu, deceased) v Wong Si Wah	N/A	Yes	[2009] 1 SLR(R) 819	Singapore	Cited as authority for using a segmented multiplier with differing multiplicands.
Lee Teck Nam v Kang Hock Seng Paul	N/A	Yes	[2005] 4 SLR(R) 14	Singapore	Cited for the principle that it is legitimate for the court to adjust a multiplier upwards or downwards incrementally to account for the circumstances of a particular case.
Shaw Linda Gillian v Chai Kang Wei Samuel	High Court	Yes	[2009] SGHC 187	Singapore	Cited for the application of a discount for vicissitudes of life.
Taylor v O’Connor	N/A	Yes	[1971] AC 115	England	Cited for the principle that actuarial tables have sometimes been viewed as giving an appearance of objective accuracy in what remains essentially a subjective exercise.
Chai Kang Wei Samuel v Shaw Linda Gillian	Court of Appeal	Yes	[2010] 3 SLR 587	Singapore	Cited as the appeal case for Shaw Linda Gillian v Chai Kang Wei Samuel.
Cookson v Knowles	N/A	Yes	[1979] AC 556	England	Cited for the principle that inflation will take care of itself in a rough and ready way by the higher rates of interest obtainable as one of the consequences of it.
Lim Poh Choo v Camden and Islington Area Health Authority	N/A	Yes	[1980] AC 174	England	Cited for the principle that inflation is taken into account only in exceptional cases where it was shown on the facts that fair compensation could not be achieved otherwise.
Chan Pui-ki v Leung On	Court of Appeal	Yes	[1996] 2 HKLR 401	Hong Kong	Cited as a case where the Hong Kong Court of Appeal rejected an attempt by a trial judge to depart from the conventional method.
Bresatz v Prizibilla	N/A	Yes	(1962) 108 CLR 541	N/A	Cited for the principle that vicissitudes of life are equally capable of increasing his loss.
Teo Ai Ling (by her next friend Chua Wee Bee) v Koh Chai Kwang	N/A	Yes	[2010] 2 SLR 1037	Singapore	Cited as a case where the cap of 16 has been broken by two awards based on multipliers of 20.
Lee Wei Kong (by his litigation representative Lee Swee Chit) v Ng Siok Tong	N/A	Yes	[2012] 2 SLR 85	Singapore	Cited as a case where the cap of 16 has been broken by two awards based on multipliers of 20.
Toh Wai Sie	High Court	Yes	[2012] SGHC 33	Singapore	Cited for the principle that the size of the discount for vicissitudes of life is inversely related to the number of remaining years of working life.
Tan Juay Mui (by his next friend Chew Chwee Kim) v Sher Kuan Hock and another (Liberty Insurance Pte Ltd, codefendant; Liberty Insurance Pte Ltd and another, third parties)	N/A	Yes	[2012] 3 SLR 496	Singapore	Cited for the multiplier of 17 when there were 32 remaining years of life.
Chin Swey Min a patient suing by his wife and next friend Lim Siew Lee v Nor Nizar Bin Mohamed	High Court	Yes	[2004] SGHC 27	Singapore	Cited for the multiplier of 16 when the plaintiff was 38 years old.
Ang Leng Hock v Leo Ee An	High Court	Yes	[2003] SGHC 240	Singapore	Cited for the multiplier of 20 when there were 33 remaining years of life.
Ang Leng Hock v Leo Ee Ah	N/A	Yes	[2004] 2 SLR(R) 361	Singapore	Cited as the appeal case for Ang Leng Hock v Leo Ee An.
TV Media Pte Ltd v De Cruz Andrea Heidi and another appeal	Court of Appeal	Yes	[2004] 3 SLR(R) 543	Singapore	Cited for the multiplier of 17 was applied for a 27 year old plaintiff with 51 remaining years of life.
Lim Yee Ming v Ubin Lagoon Resort Pte Ltd and Others (Adventure Training Systems Pty Ltd, Third Party)	High Court	Yes	[2003] SGHC 134	Singapore	Cited for the multiplier of 15 years for a 26 year old plaintiff.
Ng Song Leng v Soh Kim Seng Engineering & Trading Pte Ltd and Another	High Court	Yes	[1997] SGHC 289	Singapore	Cited for the multiplier of 17 years for a 29 year old plaintiff.
Teo Seng Kiat v Goh Hwa Teck	N/A	Yes	[2003] 1 SLR(R) 333	Singapore	Cited for the multiplier of 18 years for a 28 year old plaintiff.
Chen Qingrui suing by her father and next friend Tan Kok Kiong v Phua Geok Leng	High Court	Yes	[2001] SGHC 64	Singapore	Cited for the AR applied a 18 year multiplier for an 18 year old plaintiff.
British Transport Commission v. Gourley	N/A	Yes	[1956] AC 185	N/A	Cited for the principle that damages for financial loss likely to result from personal injury can only be an estimate.

13. Applicable Rules

Rule Name
No applicable rules

14. Applicable Statutes

Statute Name	Jurisdiction
Retirement and Re-employment Act (Cap 274A, 2000 Rev Ed) s 4(1)	Singapore
Supreme Court of Judicature Act (Cap 322, 2007 Ed)	Singapore
Damages Act 1996 (c 48) (UK) s 1(1)	United Kingdom
Civil Evidence Act 1995 (c 38) (UK) s 10	United Kingdom

15. Key Terms and Keywords

15.1 Key Terms

Loss of future earnings
Future medical expenses
Multiplier
Multiplicand
Conventional approach
Restitutio in integrum
Present value tables
Actuarial tables
Vicissitudes of life
Accelerated receipt
Paraplegia

15.2 Keywords

negligence
personal injury
damages
loss of earnings
medical expenses
paraplegia
Singapore
High Court

17. Areas of Law

Area Name	Relevance Score
Personal Injury	90
Loss of future earnings	90
Future Medical Expenses	85
Personal injuries cases	85
Damages	80
Assessment of Damages	80
Measure of Damages	75
Automobile Accidents	70
Negligence	60

16. Subjects

Tort
Damages
Civil Procedure