chwee kin keong v digilandmall high court chwee kin keong v digilandmall high court

June 16, 2022; Posted by why do chavs wear tracksuits; 16 . It is pertinent to note that she placed orders for 32 laser printers including 20 units she ordered on behalf of her sister. 36 The second plaintiff was the key person and pivotal in the entire chain of events. Market orders: order to be executed immediately at the best available price. There is often, but not inexorably, a co-relationship between the timing when the amendment is sought and the adverse consequences for the other party. No cash had been collected. 104 The creases over the theoretical approach to adopt in determining the existence of contracts have for some time now been decisively ironed out in favour of the objective theory. (c) the need to reach commercially sensible solutions while respecting traditional principles applicable to instances of genuine error or mistake. 57 Malcolm Tan is 30 years old and a practising advocate and solicitor. Ltd. Yeo Tiong Min* I. 31 He admitted receiving a call from the first plaintiff at about 2.00am but claimed the first plaintiff merely apprised him of a good deal. The web merchant, unless he qualifies his offer appropriately, by making it subject to the availability of stock or some other condition precedent, could be seen as making an offer to sell an infinite supply of goods. They deny having had any communications amongst themselves about the possibility, let alone probability, that the price posting on the website could have been a mistake. Loose language may result in inadvertently establishing contractual liability to a much wider range of purchasers than resources permit. He also called the first plaintiff to see if the latter had managed to successfully complete his purchase. In the final stage of the process, after the payment mode was indicated, each of the plaintiffs was notified successful transaction your order and payment transaction has been processed. 124 A number of decisions over the last five decades emanating from several common law jurisdictions even go so far as to suggest that with the integration of the courts of common law and equity, equitable principles now hold sway and that earlier common law decisions need reinterpretation. As a lawyer, he appears to have been indispensable in the plaintiffs attempts to hold the defendant to the bargain. 53 He claimed that seeing the same price on the Digilandmall website confirmed his view that there had been no mistake. Chwee Kin Keong decision - Chwee Kin Keong and Others v Digilandmall Pte Ltd [2004] 2 SLR 594; - Studocu Caso chwee kin keong and others digilandmall.com pte ltd slr sghc 71 suit no: suit decision 12 apr 2004 date: court: coram: counsel: high court rajah jc tan sok IgnorarExperimenta 'Pergunta a um Especialista' Pergunta a um especialista They proceeded to file their amendments to the statement of claim as if leave had already been given. . So its going to be our reputation at stake, we thought we had a successful transaction.. The court found that parties when . Altogether he sought to purchase 760 units, the largest number of orders placed by anyone between 8 and 13January 2003. They even discussed the possible scenario of the defendant not honouring the transactions. In this case, there was no consensus ad idem or meeting of the minds between the parties, which meant that there could be no binding contract between them. Computer glitches can cause transmission failures, garbled information or even change the nature of the information transmitted. . However, at the actual hearing of the applications, plaintiffs counsel opposed any amendments whatsoever to the defence and sought leave to withdraw the plaintiffs earlier unilateral amendments. He was aware that the laser printers were targeted for business use. There must be consensus ad idem. Adopting an objective standard, executory contracts have in fact been entered into and concluded between the parties. Desmond: 13/01/20 01:41 u want it for profit or personal use? These statements are not to be interpreted as a clarion call to rewrite commercial agreements because of a partys unreasonable or ignoble behaviour. Landmark decision on unilateral mistake of fact in respect of the price of product listed on an online mall and the purchases made thereon . Limit orders: order to be executed only when the desired price is available. Altogether, the second plaintiff purchased 180 units, opting for cash on delivery as the payment mode. 77 Soon after the defendant informed the plaintiffs that they did not intend to deliver the laser printers, the plaintiffs took their claims to the press. It appears that it wanted to leave no stone unturned and had therefore mounted a root and branch attack on the plaintiffs claims. There are two types of orders relevant: market orders and limit orders. Unfortunately, they mistakenly offered the price at so much per pound in place of so much per piece. Decisions cannot be reconciled and expressions, terminology and phraseology in different decisions mean different things to different courts and even judges within the same judicial systems. Between 3.13am and 4.00am the second plaintiff revisited the website four times placing four further orders for 20 laser printers each time. 152 This view has also found support in the Singapore context. 32 Satisfied with his enquiries in relation to the printer model, he returned to the HP website and placed an order for 100 laser printers at about 2.23am. The rigour in limiting this scope is also critical to protect innocent third party rights that may have been acquired directly or indirectly. 102 Inevitably mistakes will occur in the course of electronic transmissions. The defendant is therefore entitled to recover in full its taxed costs from the plaintiffs. 108 Chitty on Contracts (28th Ed, 1999) vol1 observes at para5-035: It is not clear whether for the mistake to be operative it must actually be known to the other party, or whether it is enough that it ought to have been apparent to any reasonable man. It is set in the context of internet contracting. Ltd. has the makings of a student's classic for several reasons, including: 1. He acknowledged having had conversations with the other plaintiffs about how much money we can sell the printer and how much we can make and about storage space as well as how many units we intend to buy. The law will have to organically adapt itself to respond to new challenges without compromising on certainty and fairness. In terms of chronological sequence, the initial page accessed was the shopping cart, followed by checkout-order . 138 Effectively, the defendant was attempting in this contention to assert that it could have its cake and eat it as well. Added to his own purchases of 760 units, he was effectively responsible for the purchase of 1,090 laser printers. No modern authority was cited to me suggesting an intended commercial transaction of this nature could ever fail for want of consideration. CISG-online is a research platform dedicated to the law and practice of the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods adopted in Vienna on 11 April 1980 (CISG), as well as related areas of international commercial law. He was opportunistic in effecting his purchases, active in co-ordinating with the other plaintiffs on the eventful morning, and economical with the truth in his evidence. 67 MsToh subsequently did some research on how companies which had committed similar mistakes over the Internet handled the aftermath. COOKE v OXLEY (1790) 3 T. R. 653. Chwee Kin Keong v Digilandmall.com Pte Ltd. Case Nos: Suit 202/2003/E (for the first instance), CA/30/2004 (for the appeal) in the High Court of Singapore (at first instance), Singapore Court of Appeal. If the defendant were right, they maintain, uncertainty would prevail in the commercial world and more particularly in Internet transactions. It seems to me that he was trying to tailor his evidence to fit neatly within the legal parameters of the plaintiffs case. 71 The sixth plaintiffs position can be dealt with very briefly. What amounts to snapping up is a question of degree that will incorporate a spectrum of contextual factors: what is objectively and subjectively known, the magnitude of the transaction(s), the circumstances in which the orders are placed and whether any unusual factors are apparent. He classifies mistake in the following manner at 386: If attention is fixed merely on the factual situations, there are three possible types of mistake: common, mutual and unilateral. He was also involved in initiating the Channel NewsAsia report (see [78] and [79], 77 Soon after the defendant informed the plaintiffs that they did not intend to deliver the laser printers, the plaintiffs took their claims to the press. A contract is normally concluded when an offer made by one party (the offeror) is accepted by the party to whom the offer has been made (the offeree). Palm tree justice will only serve to inject uncertainty into the law. I am not prepared, after full consideration, to assume that the reporters misquoted the facts. Is this a case of poetic justice? As a lawyer, he appears to have been indispensable in the plaintiffs attempts to hold the defendant to the bargain. It would be illogical to have different approaches for different product sales over the Internet. Certainty in commercial transactions should not be trifled with, as this will inevitably affect how commercial and business exchanges are respected and effected. In these proceedings, it appears that the purchases made by the sixth plaintiff were not accompanied by a corresponding receipt of acceptances, as his e-mail inbox was full. This is clearly a mistake as they could not possible be sold for an amount that in a commercial situation. Chwee Kin Keong vs Digilandmall.com - Free download as Powerpoint Presentation (.ppt / .pptx), PDF File (.pdf), Text File (.txt) or view presentation slides online. Promotions would be indicated by a P inside a yellow circle next to the product in question. - Rebutting presumption: "The question [whether or not there is a binding contract] must depend on the His Internet research alone would have confirmed that. We are only concerned with the question whether relief might be given for common mistake in circumstances wider than those stipulated in Bell v Lever Bros Ltd [1932] AC 161. He is also a director and shareholder in a company engaging in wholesale trade, together with the second and third plaintiffs. Being fully conscious of the pivotal nature of this point, I have duly accorded particular attention to the evidence and credibility of each of the plaintiffs. 3. The appellants featured prominently because of the size of their orders. If stock of a product has been exhausted, a prospective purchaser cannot sue for specific performance or damages as he has merely made an offer that has not been accepted by the merchant. 95 The known availability of stock could be an important distinguishing factor between a physical sale and an Internet transaction. 78 In a Channel NewsAsia report datelined 15January 2003, it was reported that: Two of the customers, Mark Yeow and Malcolm Tan, have already spoken to their lawyers. Court Judgement chwee kin keong and others digilandmall.com pte ltd slr sghc 71 suit no: suit decision 12 apr 2004 date: court: coram: counsel: high court rajah Skip to document Ask an Expert Sign inRegister Sign inRegister Home Ask an ExpertNew My Library Discovery Institutions London School of Business and Finance SAA Global Education A contract will not be concluded unless the parties are agreed as to its material terms. The knowledge that the offer is not meant according to its literal terms simply displaces the objective theory of contract. They are described by their counsel in submissions as risk takers, business minded and profit seeking. [2005] 1 SLR (R) Chwee Kin Keong v Digilandmall.com Pte Ltd 507 printers. The leading Canadian decision in this area is the case of McMaster University v Wilchar Construction Ltd (1971) 22DLR(3d) 9 which, incidentally, was cited with approval by the Australian High Court in Taylor v Johnson. The terms of the offer are clear and unambiguous and the offeree accepts the offer according to its true sense, Although a mistaken party will not often be able to discharge the onus of showing that the other party, 118 The Canadian courts have been the most active common law courts explicating and developing this area of the law. Indeed, upon re-examination, he attempted to distance himself from the portion of his affidavit suggesting that the possibility of a genuine mistake had crossed his mind after the first transaction. The recipient rule is therefore more convenient and relevant in the context of both instantaneous or near instantaneous communications. Having said that, this exception must always be prudently invoked and judiciously applied; the exiguous scope of this exception is necessary to give the commercial community confidence that commercial transactions will almost invariably be honoured when all the objective contractual indicia are satisfied. Though the actual price of the laser printer was $3,854, the defendant had on 8January 2003 mistakenly posted the price at $66.00 on its websites. Users may find that it may not be as forgiving as more traditional methods of communications. There is constant tension in our legal system to accommodate the Janus-like considerations of fairness and finality. The contract stands according to the natural meaning of the words used. A prospective purchaser is entitled to rely on the terms of the web advertisement. by the earlier decision of Chwee Kin Keong v Digilandmall.com [2005] 1 SLR(R) 502, where the Court of Appeal recognised the doctrine of unilateral mistake in equity, departing from the English position in Great Peace Shipping Ltd v Tsavliris Salvage (International) Ltd [2003] QB 679; [2002] 3 WLR 1617; [2002] 4 All ER 689. Civil Procedure Pleadings . There were no such discussions with potential buyers. They want Digiland to honour the deal or at least to compensate them. Given his professional and business background, he must have realised that the $66 price posting on the HP website was an error. 129 The careful analysis of case law undertaken by that court yields a cogent and forceful argument that Lord DenningMR was plainly attempting to side-step Bell v Lever in a naked attempt to achieve equitable justice in the face of the poverty of the common law. Mutual promises, by all accounts, on the basis of existing case law, more than amply constitute consideration. It deals with the process rather than the substance of how to divine the rule. Chwee Kin Keong and Others v Digilandmall.com Pte Ltd [2005] SGCA 2 Civil Procedure Costs , Civil Procedure Pleadings , Contract Mistake Decision Date: 13 Jan 2005 . Both parties expressed that they wished to effect amendments to mirror evidence that had been adduced in the proceedings. It is essential that the law be perceived as embodying rationality and fairness while respecting the commercial imperative of certainty. [emphasis added]. Why? In Canada, the latter suffices. Having pointed out 6 that a court 'will generally be cautious if not reluctant to effect any amendments once the hearing has commenced; even more so once the evidential phase of the . I invited both parties to indicate if they wished to amend their pleadings. I found their attempts to play down the impact of the statements which they had, to all intents and purposes, willingly and deliberately made earlier, unconvincing. They are all well-educated professionals articulate, entrepreneurial and, quite bluntly, streetwise and savvy individuals. A steady stream of decisions from common law courts indicate a measured but nevertheless distinctly incremental willingness to extend the scope of the exception to not just actual knowledge, but deemed or constructive knowledge as well. He appears to have been in constant communication with the second plaintiff and to have received and read the mass e-mail from the first plaintiff after he placed his first purchase order. This has clearly caused much confusion in the common law jurisdictions. 148 The circumstances under which the orders were placed and the quantities sought to be purchased wholly undermine counsels variegated contentions that the plaintiffs lacked knowledge of or belief in the existence of a mistake. u think this is the 1970s?? He is currently employed as an accountant in an accounting firm, Ernst & Young. The second, third, fourth and sixth plaintiffs are the only individuals who ordered more than a hundred laser printers each. In my view this further undermines the essence of the plaintiffs case that they never contemplated that the pricing was a mistake. 84 It is axiomatic that a court will generally be cautious if not reluctant to effect any amendments once the hearing has commenced; even more so once the evidential phase of the proceedings has been completed. As part of its business, it operates a website owned by Hewlett Packard (HP) at http://www.buyhp.com.sg (the HP website) where only HP products are sold. Doctrines and Institutions of Responsible Government. The bites, however, may taste quite different and cause different sensations. - This is also the position as regards friends: see Coward v. MIB (1963). The most recent and authoritative pronouncement in this area (per Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers in Shogun Finance Ltd v Hudson [2003] 3 WLR 1371 at [123]) states: A contract is normally concluded when an offer made by one party (the offeror) is accepted by the party to whom the offer has been made (the offeree). After establishing from the web pages that the price quoted for the laser printer was indeed $66, he proceeded to make searches through search engines like Yahoo and visited the website of Hardware.com. While commercial entities ought not to be given a licence to relax their vigilance, the policy considerations in refusing to enforce mistaken agreements militate against attaching undue weight to the carelessness involved in spawning the mistake. chwee kin keong and others digilandmall.com pte ltd sghc 71 case number suit decision date 12 april 2004 high court coram rajah jc counsel name(s) tan sok ling Skip to document Ask an Expert Sign inRegister Sign inRegister Home Ask an ExpertNew My Library Discovery Institutions Republic Polytechnic London School of Business and Finance In some unusual circumstances where a unilateral mistake exists, the law can find a contract on terms intended by the mistaken party. As the Channel NewsAsia report so succinctly summarised they saw a great opportunity and grabbed it. Upon completing this sequence, each of the orders placed by the plaintiffs was confirmed by automated responses from the respective websites stating Successful Purchase Confirmation from HP online. The plaintiffs orders were processed by the defendants automated system and confirmation notes were automatically despatched to the plaintiffs within a few minutes. 76 On Monday, 13January 2003, at about 9.15am, an employee of the defendant received a call from a prospective customer inquiring whether the defendant was aware of the posted price of $66 for the laser printers on the HP website. This could account for the substantial number of Canadian cases in this area of the law. The High Court of Australia in Taylor v Johnson purportedly relied on Solle v Butcher, Bell v Lever Brothers, Limited [1932] AC 161, McRae v Commonwealth Disposals Commission (1951) 84CLR 377, all cases of common mistake, to suggest that in unilateral mistake a contracting party cannot assert, by relying on his own mistake, that a contract is void, notwithstanding the issue is fundamental or known to the other side. Disclaimer: This work was produced by one of our expert legal writers, as a learning aid to help law students with their studies. Where common mistake is pleaded, the presence of agreement is admitted. The other knows, or must be taken to know, of his mistake. Section11 of the ETA expressly provides that offers and acceptances may be made electronically. There is however much to be said in favour of rationalising the law of mistake under a single doctrine incorporating the best elements of common law and equity. CLARK, B. Free resources to assist you with your legal studies! In Chwee Kin Keong v Digilandmall.com Pte Ltd [2004] 2 SLR (R) 594 (" Digilandmall.com "), the plaintiffs concerned placed orders over the Internet for a total of 1,606 Hewlett Packard commercial laser printers on the defendant (seller's) websites. If he was prepared to commit this view in writing to a larger circle of 54 friends and business associates after his communication with the second and third plaintiffs, he would certainly have shared this view with his close friends with even greater candour and detail. Singapore Court of Appeal. How could one seek to calculate the profit margin before finding out the true market price of the laser printer? The quintessential approach of the law is to preserve rather than to undermine contracts. [emphasis added]. At 4.15am, he sent an email to the first plaintiff, copied to the second plaintiff, with a happy emoticon following check out the prices here (see [19]. This cannot be right. To export a reference to this article please select a referencing stye below: This selection of essays, case summaries and dissertations is of relevance to law students within the Commonwealth and for those students who are studying the Rule of Law from outside the Commonwealth . 92 The Electronics Transaction Act (Cap88, 1999Rev Ed) (ETA) places Internet contractual dealings on a firmer footing. Even if it were to be held that there is now a general test of unconscionability applicable to all types of mistake, the plaintiffs contentions will not take them far. Despite their familial relationship, the legal relationship between the two of them was that of agent and principal. They stoutly assert that they were too preoccupied with the realisation of potential profits through a so-called arbitrage position between different markets to contemplate that an error had been made. Normally the contract is only concluded when the acceptance is communicated by the offeree to the offeror. 117 It should be emphasised that this stream of authority is consistently recognised by all the major common law jurisdictions. The case went before both the High Court and the Court of Appeal. Having expressed my views on consideration, I should also add for good measure that, in any event, there is ample consideration. The jurisdiction asserted in the former case has not developed. After the defendant intimated that it would not be delivering the laser printer, he sent an e-mail excoriating it, asserting, I felt that I had done all that was conceivably within my means to ensure that the Price was. This is approved in a Singaporean case, Chwee Kin Keong v Digilandmall.com Pte Ltd . After the defendant intimated that it would not be delivering the laser printer, he sent an e-mail excoriating it, asserting, inter alia: Myself, and other people who have been disappointed by you decision, will definitely spread word of the companys lack of honour and integrity to everyone we know and all over the internet! When pressed as to whether he visited other websites, he said he could not confirm that one way or the other. Counsels approach is flawed. Rajah J.C. in the Singapore High Court in Chwee Kin Keong v. Digilandmall.com Pte. He placed his first order for 50 units at about 2.58am, and his second order for another 50 units at 3.22am, again through the HP website. This provision acknowledges that the essential framework of an electronic contract needs to be considered in the usual manner; in other words, principles of contract formation, consideration, terms and conditions, choice of law and jurisdictional issues need to be examined. This pricing was a mistake, which was fundamental to the contract and the complainants must have known that this absurdly low pricing was an error by the defendants. When considering the appropriate rule to apply, it stands to reason that as between sender and receiver, the party who selects the means of communication should bear the consequences of any unexpected events. 69 The sixth plaintiff was awakened by his brother, the third plaintiff, at about 3.00am. From time to time they communicate with each other via the Internet and the short messaging system (sms). But that, surely, is a question as to where the common law should draw the line; not whether, given the common law rule, it needs to be mitigated by application of some other doctrine. They have taken into account both the English and Australian authorities in distilling the jurisprudence in this area. He is also part of the Bel-Air network. He claims visiting, inter alia, the Epinions and Hardwarezone websites, and though it appears that there was at the material time a discussion thread on the error on the Hardwarezone website, the fourth plaintiff denied having seen this. 101 RSS Intellectual Property Office of Singapore Expand/Collapse. Consideration was less than executory and non-existent. If the common law continues to take precedence, then an essential mistake would void a contract ab initio. When, however, the cases provoked by these factual situations are analysed, they will be seen to fall, not into three, but only two distinct legal categories. Introduction The decision of V.K. The sixth plaintiff is precluded from asserting his ignorance. If anything, certain portions of the affidavits raised even more doubts about the plaintiffs credibility. The first plaintiffs purchase took place soon after the ICQ conversation with Desmond where Desmond had in no uncertain terms pitched the price of the laser printer between $3,000 to $4,000. It appears there were a series of sms messages between them and at least a few telephone discussions while the purchases were being effected. Amendments after conclusion of submissions. 73 The sixth plaintiffs orders did not receive matching confirmations from the defendant as his e-mail box was full. The decision of the British Columbia Court of Appeal in, 25 The law of mistake was discussed in depth by McLachlinCJBC in. While this case needs to be treated with some caution, as it appears to integrate concepts of law and equity, I respectfully agree with the approach in so far as it deals with deemed knowledge. 42 Mark Yeow Kinn Keong has a Bachelor of Science (Economics) degree from the University of London. After placing his second order, he admitted making further searches on the Internet to fortify my view that the price of the $66 per printer was not a mistake He was also the only plaintiff who placed an order on the Digilandmall website. . 139 Next, the defendant contends that no consideration passed from the plaintiffs to them. [emphasis added]. 7191 RSS High Court Expand/Collapse. In light of these general observations, I now address the law on unilateral mistake. He tried to convey the impression that it never struck him that a mistake in the price posting of the laser printer could have occurred. He is 32 years old and conducts his own network marketing business. This gives their courts a broad and elastic jurisdiction to deal with commercially inappropriate behaviour. Rajah J.C. in the Singapore High Court in Chwee Kin Keong v. Digilandmall.com Pte. When notified and satisfied that this transaction was successful as well, he placed a final order at 4.21am for ten laser printers on the HP website, charging this to his credit card. In terms of chronological sequence, the initial page accessed was the shopping cart, followed by checkout-order particulars, checkout-order confirmation, check-out payment details and payment whether by cash on delivery or by credit card. 121 While my views here are not central to my decision, the plaintiffs have adverted to this relationship in a misguided attempt to derail the defence on an arid pleading technicality. Thus, 119 It is apparent from this overview that the Canadian courts have integrated through their equitable jurisdiction the concept of common law mistake within the rubric of unconscionability. We can understand why the decision in Bell v Lever Bros Ltd did not find favour with Lord DenningMR. An equitable jurisdiction to grant rescission on terms where a common fundamental mistake has induced a contract gives greater flexibility than a doctrine of common law which holds the contract void in such circumstances. You may find the status of your order by calling us at (phone number given) Special instructions: Please call to advise delivery date and time. 52 He then called the second plaintiff on his handphone and informed him that he intended to purchase 50 laser printers. He is currently self-employed and is intimately involved in the multi-level marketing sales of aromatherapy products under the Bel-Air label. Having noted all this, I am nevertheless inclined towards the views expressed in the Great Peace Shipping case for the reasons articulated by Lord PhillipsMR. 83 The defendant maintained that there was no element of surprise and/or prejudice arising from the amendments. The decision of V.K. Some of the plaintiffs appeared rather coy or ignorant in this regard but I did not find their performance believable. 93 Website advertisement is in principle no different from a billboard outside a shop or an advertisement in a newspaper or periodical. The defendant was entitled to stake its entire defence on the basis of common law, though it would have been prudent ex abundanti cautela to have asserted the equitable position in the alternative.