Jul 28, 2010
PI ordered to return $52,000
<!-- by line --> By Selina Lum
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A PRIVATE eye who initially won his case in the Subordinate Courts against four lawyers now has to return the $52,000 that had been paid to him, after the High Court overturned the decision of the lower court. Mr Simon Suppiah Sunmugam, 62, had sued the lawyers for wrongly paying out $28,000 as commission to property agency ERA from the sale of his matrimonial home in 2002.
He had also won $24,000 in legal costs. But on Tuesday, after hearing an appeal by the four lawyers, the High Court held that they had not breached their duties. Mr Suppiah was ordered to return the $54,000, and as he has lost the case, has to fork out another $20,000 in costs. The saga arose out of Mr Suppiah's divorce from Madam Nee Shyan Huey, 44, and the sale of their matrimonial home, a house in Punggol.
He was unhappy when he found out in 2002 that $28,000 had been deducted from the sales proceeds for the agency's commission. Almost six years later, he sued four lawyers from the firm that acted for his wife - Ms Amarjit Kour, Mr Gregory Tang, Ms Belinda Ang, and Mr Cuthbert Low, alleging that they had been negligent in releasing the commission.
