Abstract:
In this case the Chief Justice concluded that, in Singapore, there should be a single test to determine the imposition of a duty of care in all claims arising out of negligence, irrespective of the type of the damages claimed including claims for pure economic loss, whether they arise from negligent misstatements or acts/omissions; and that the single test shall be a two-stage test, comprising of, first, proximity and, second, policy considerations. Regrettably, however, the judgment clings too heavily to the discredited and discarded notion of proximity as a legal doctrine and an underpinning which has, elsewhere, been relegated to the position of a mere label and artificial tag of convenience, inhabiting more appropriately the realm of questions of fact.