and the long intriguing drama which unfolds....
Monday, June 29, 2009
Part 9 Exp. with the lawyer Mr Chia Ti Lik
The Plaintiff’s experience with the lawyer Mr Chia Ti Lik
In May 2009, the Plaintiff contacted Mr Chia Ti Lik (“Mr Chia”) exploring whether he was interested in the Plaintiff’s case and whether he was suitable to act for the Plaintiff.
On 15 May 2009, the Plaintiff had the first meeting with Mr Chia at Mr Chia’s office from 2:50pm to 5:00pm.
The Plaintiff provided detailed introduction on the dispute. Mr Chia was very interested in the Plaintiff’s case. He was of the view that AIA made wrongdoings and advised that once the legal proceedings start, all relevant information shall be released to the public through internet and press. He confirmed that the Writ of Summons can be published without any problem as it is open once it is issued.
He told the Plaintiff that he would be very busy during the following week (i.e. from 18 May to 22 May of 2009) and shall have time to concentrate on the Plaintiff’s case after that. When the Plaintiff expressed that she was planning for school holidays with her children and expected that the Writ of Summons could be ready before 29 May 2009, he promised that he should be able to make it.
He told the Plaintiff that he would prepare a draft of the Writ of Summons first. When it was ready, he would quote his price for writing the Writ and it would be between S$1,000 and S$2,000. He said that if the Plaintiff was not satisfied with the draft, she would need only to pay him S$300 for the initial meeting. Then, the Plaintiff asked him whether the first meeting could be free if she was not satisfied with the draft. He agreed.
He impressed the Plaintiff that he was sincere, kind and considerate. The Plaintiff had a very good impression of him believing that he could be trusted and he would help the Plaintiff and not AIA.
During the meeting, he also told the Plaintiff that he would need to contact Rajah & Tann and Engelin Teh Practice before issuing the Writ of Summons to AIA and stated that was his professional conduct. The Plaintiff told him that according to her understanding, it should not be necessary as she was about to sue AIA and besides, Engelin Teh Practice was no longer her lawyer and all the documents were taken back. But, he provided his reasons which the Plaintiff failed to understand.
At the end of the meeting, Mr Chia made a copy of the OPQ, the Plaintiff’s demand letter dated 4 February 2009 and Rajah & Tann’s legal letter dated 13 February 2009. He did not ask for any other documents. He did not ask the Plaintiff to sign any documents.
One week later on 22 May 2009, the Plaintiff through her email asked Mr Chia whether they could have a meeting on the following Monday or Tuesday to discuss the Writ. He did not reply.
On 25 May 2009, the afternoon, Mr Chia’s secretary Ms Chia called the Plaintiff and arranged for the second meeting on 26 May 2009 around 10:45 am to 12:30pm.
At the second meeting, Mr Chia told the Plaintiff that the draft was not ready and he should be able to get it ready by that week, i.e. by 29 May 2009. He asked the Plaintiff to give a detailed introduction on the dispute again.
As the Plaintiff had prepared a detailed document of Introduction of my insurance dispute with AIA (“the Document”), the Plaintiff passed a copy of it to Mr Chia and explained the whole story of the dispute again through the Document. It could be sure that Mr Chia had a very good view on the Plaintiff’s case after two detailed introductions by the Plaintiff.
During the meeting, Mr Chia showed his interest again. He was very agreeable with what the Plaintiff said and wrote. He advised the Plaintiff to keep all the documents properly. He asked the Plaintiff to forward a soft copy of the Document to him. He explained that the soft copy shall be helpful when he prepares the draft of the writ and he could cut and paste relevant content from the soft copy.
He also taped down their discussion on his computer. The Plaintiff was touched thinking that he would study what she said and what she wrote and so would prepare a proper Writ of Summons for the Plaintiff.
When the Plaintiff asked whether he could send his partially completed drafts to the Plaintiff later so that she could start to revise it and shorten the preparation time for the Writ, he agreed.
During the meeting, he told the Plaintiff again that he would prepare a draft first. When it was ready, he would then quote his price for writing the Writ which could be between S$1,000 to S$2,000. He impressed the Plaintiff that he was lack of confidence whether the Plaintiff would be satisfied with what he wrote. To encourage him, the Plaintiff told him that she had confidence on him and also she had no problem with the legal fees of S$1,000 to S$2,000 for writing the Writ of Summons. The Plaintiff believed that he was good in writing and should be able to write a proper Writ and what he would wrote should be better than what the Plaintiff could write as the Plaintiff’s English was poor.
He did not ask the Plaintiff for any additional documents.
In the afternoon, the Plaintiff through her email sent the soft copy of the Document to him. She also offered her help if he needed as she believed that he should have the needs to know some details from the Plaintiff during the time when he prepares the draft.
On Wednesday, 27 May 2009 at 9:43:36 PM, the Plaintiff through her email asked Mr Chia whether she could have his partially completed Writ of Summons. He did not reply.
On Friday afternoon, 29 May 2009, Ms Chia, his secretary called the Plaintiff telling that Mr Chia had been busy and so did not have the time to complete the draft. She promised that the draft should be ready next week.
On Monday, 1 June 2009, the Plaintiff through her email asked Mr Chia again whether she could have his partially completed draft. As the progress on drafting the Writ was slow, the Plaintiff suggested that he could use the Document to prepare the draft so as to save his time.
On the same day, Mr Chia replied through his email that he had done 70% of the draft and should be able to get it done by the week. He did not provide any partially completed draft.
In terms of the Document, Mr Chia stated that “your introduction document is very good base for Affidavit preparation and arguments. But in a writ of summons, the statement of claim needs to be as concise and sharp as possible without leaving out any facts that we wish to rely on.” His reply gave the Plaintiff an impression and also confidence that he would draft a proper Writ of Summons.
He also asked “if there is a Governing Law clause in the policy agreement and also whether there is a jurisdiction clause in the policy agreement”.
The Plaintiff replied on the same day through her email that she had checked the policy file and did not find any Governing Law clause or jurisdiction clause and did not find a clause which is essentially relevant to the dispute. She also told him in her email that “If you need the policy file urgently, I can go down to pass it to you. Otherwise, I will provide it to you when we meet next time. Let me know which way you prefer.” But Mr Chia did not reply.
On 3 June 2009, the Plaintiff through her email asked Mr Chia again whether he could send his partially completed draft to the Plaintiff. He did not reply.
On 5 June 2009 at 2:56:28 PM, the Plaintiff sent another email to Mr Chia. She wrote, inter alia, that:-
“May I know the progress of the Writ of Summons? I understand that you are trying to make it perfect. Due to the urgency of the matter, I feel that it is enough to draft the Writ properly.
I am thinking to release those important information to the internet as I have some time to do it while I am waiting for you.
What do you think?”
Just two minutes later (i.e. at 2:58:54 PM), Mr Chia replied inter alia that:-
“Sorry for the delay. I was just about to send a draft of the writ to you. I just spotted one of my errors and am currently making some amendments. The draft will be sent to you in an hour's time.”
Exactly one hour later at 3:58:06 PM, he sent his draft which is extremely short, consisting of eleven (11) paragraphs.
The draft was full of mistakes and errors. It was ambiguous and hideous messy. It was difficult to understand. There was no single paragraph clear, correct or beneficial to the Plaintiff’s case. There was nothing correct except who the Defendant is.
The statement of claim of the draft is as follows:-
“
The Defendant is an insurance company incorporated in the Colony of Hong Kong. At all material times, the Plaintiff was a client of the Defendant.
By an agreement made between the Plaintiffs and the Defendants in 1993, the Plaintiff agreed to buy and the Defendants agreed to sell a policy of insurance on the life of the Plaintiff.
The agreement was contained in or evidenced by or is to be inferred from the following documents:-
a. The Original Policy Quotation dated 29/04/1993 (“the OPQ”).
b. Policy Contract documents dated ??/??/??.
c. Correspondence between the parties from ??/??/?? till ??/??/??