Order 108 Rule 2

eLitigation

Briefing to Law Firms 11 November 2014

Outline

• Objectives

• Features of eLitigation

• Common filings submitted via eLitigation at:

– Civil Registry

– Primary Dispute Resolution Centre

• Other important information

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• To provide feedback to Law Firms on usual errors we see in common filings in eLitigation.

• To reduce rejections of documents in eLitigation, thereby reducing cost (rejection fees) and time spent filing documents in eLitigation.

• Mutual benefit if filings are correct in the first instance.

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Objectives

• Use of eForms to allow pre-populated draft orders after hearing

– Automatic engrossment if no changes

• DIY hearing dates for summons before registrars

• Pre-population of prescribed prayers

• Standardisation of prayers for common applications

• Automatic acceptance of some eForms & PDF documents

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Features of eLitigation

Errors arising from:

• wrong selection of available options

• missing information

• wrong information

5

Common filings submitted via eLitigation

• Nature of Case (when filing Writs for Tort cases)

• Amendment to Writs and/or Pleadings – whether leave of Court required

• ROC Form 60

• Default Judgement, O. 13 & O.19

• Set down - Naming convention of documents

• Opening Statements

• Form 112 (RA / RAS / DCA)

• Correspondence with Courts 6

Errors Arising from Wrong Selection of Available Options

Nature of Case (when filing WOS for Tort cases)

cases

7

For Industrial Accident cases

Please select the correct Nature of Case when filing a Writ of Summons.

For Motor Accident cases

Please do not select “Others” for the type of cases mentioned above

Amendment to Writ of Summons and/or Pleadings

(without Leave of Court)

• where leave of court is not required (ie before close of pleadings, O. 20, r. 1 and 3)

8

Please state the provision in the Rules of Court (ROC).

By default, the radio button is set to “No”. Where Leave of Court is not required, please ensure that it is defaulted as “No”.

9

Where Leave of Court is required ie Oral Leave or Leave granted by way of Summons, please select “Yes”.

If you have extracted the Order of Court document, please click the radio button - “Select the ‘Order of Court’ document”, select the Order of Court number and indicate the date of Order and Judge’s name.

If Oral Leave was granted, please click the radio button - “Order of

Court Not Shown” and manually fill in the required details.

• where leave of court is required (ie after pleadings have closed , O. 20, r. 5)

Amendment to Writ of Summons and/or Pleadings

(with Leave of Court)

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This paragraph is pre-populated in accordance to ROC (Form 60). There is no need to amend. Please do not change to the paragraph previously used for EFS filings.

Summons - ROC Form 60

10

Default Judgment, O.13 & O.19

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For filing of O.13 & O.19, please file under the respective document title.

ABC

DEF

12

The “Paper Clip” function within eForm is for attachment of schedules, annexures etc. These attachments will appear as a document link once the eForm has been accepted.

Default Judgment, O.13 & O.19

ABC

DEF

Set Down - Naming Convention of Documents

Previous naming convention

New naming Convention in eLit (for consistency purpose)

May comprise

Bundle of pleadings Setdown bundle

(to be attached when filing the Notice for Setting Down an Action for Trial)

Writ of Summons, Pleadings, Order of Court, Form 62 Certificate

Bundle of pleadings

Trial bundle

(must be submitted not less than 5 days before the trial of an action)

Opening statements, Agreed documents, Plaintiff’s bundle, Defendant’s bundle, Core bundle, Bundle of AEICs

Other supporting documents

Bundle of authorities Bundle of authorities

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OPENING STATEMENTS

Primary Dispute Resolution Centre

• State Courts Practice Directions Paragraphs 25 F/G

– For Mediation : Form 9J

– For Neutral Evaluation : Form 9K

• Shall be submitted in hard copy not less than 2 working days before the date of the first mediation session

• Need not be filed electronically

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FORM 112 - NOTICE OF APPEAL (RA, RAS & DCA)

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Please follow the format and select the appropriate appeal, that is, RA, RAS or DCA in accordance with Form 112 in Appendix A of the Rules of Court.

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Form 112 in Appendix A of the Rules of Court

FORM 112 - NOTICE OF APPEAL (RA, RAS & DCA)

17

– Request to re-fix/vacate hearing date

• Distinguish between Civil Registry and PDRC request

– Re-fixing/vacation of Civil Registry’s Hearing Dates

– Re-fixing/vacation of PDRC’s Hearing Dates

– Request for Court Dispute Resolution at PDRC

– Request for Hearing Administrative Support

– Request for a matter to be restored for hearing

– Request in relation to a Summons

Correspondence with Courts

Correspondence with Courts

• In eLitigation, there are no more “Letters”. Please do not attach letters in your applications.

• Please file the applicable Request in eLitigation.

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19

Request to re-fix/vacate hearing date

Step 1

DC /2014 ABC v DEF

How to distinguish between requests addressed to Civil Registry and PDRC

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For question 1, by default, the radio button is set to “No”. If you are re-fixing/vacating Civil Registry hearing, there is no need to change the radio button. If you are re-fixing/vacating PDRC CDR session, please click “Yes” button for question 1. After the screen refreshes with question 2, please answer question 2 accordingly.

Step 1 DC /2014 ABC v DEF

ABC

DEF

Re-fixing/vacation of hearings at Civil Registry

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Please do not file under “Other Hearing-related Request” and do not amend the document title.

Reason(s) must be stated in support of the application.

Please indicate the hearing date to be re-fixed/vacated.

Step 2

The consent of the other party should be “Added” to the Request.

The certification statement does not amount to consent of the other party agreeing to your request.

IN THE STATE COURTS OF THE REPUBLIC OF SINGAPORE

DC /2014

ABC

DEF

Singapore UEN No. 123456789X

NRIC No. S1234567D

ABC (NRIC No. S1234567D)

ABC (NRIC No. S1234567D)

Re-fixing/vacation of PDRC’s Hearing Dates

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Step 2

* Do not use this request for ADCDR/PADC matters

Select the hearing date to be re-fixed/vacated

Indicate if consent had been obtained from all relevant party/parties

Reason(s) must be stated in support of the application

To indicate unavailable dates only XYZ LLC

States

Primary Dispute Resolution Centre

• For non-injury motor accident (NIMA) and personal injury claims, request shall be made not less than 2 working days before the date of CDR

• For other cases, request shall be made not less than 7 working days before the date of CDR

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Request for Adjournment of CDR

Request for Court Dispute Resolution at PDRC

24

Please file under “Request for CDR”

DC /2014 ABC v DEF

ABC

DEF

Select the correct type of CDR requested

Indicate correctly if consent had been obtained

To indicate unavailable dates only

25

XYZ LLC

77777778

77777779

Request for Hearing Administrative Support

26

Select the appropriate type of hearing administrative support required eg Interpretation services or use of audio playback facilities

Request for a matter to be restored for hearing

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Please file under “Other Hearing Related Request”

Step 1

DC /2014 ABC v DEF

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Besides stating your request for restoring the hearing, please indicate reason(s) explaining your lawyer’s absence at the Court attendance.

Step 2

• Please file under the applicable sub case no

eg SUM 67890/2013.

– Do not file under the main case number

eg. DC 1234/2014 OR OSS 345/2014

Request in relation to a Summons

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Where it relates to a sub case number eg SUM 1/2014, please indicate the sub case number here (do not indicate the main case number).

• Amendment endorsement

• Extension of time for Memorandum of Service

• Garnishee applications

• Set-down – Extraction of Order of Court

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Errors Arising from Missing Information

Amendment Endorsement

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As pleadings are not eForms, in accordance with paragraph 13 of the Practice Directions, the Amendment Endorsement is to be manually indicated in the pdf document.

Please reflect the “Amendment No.” in the title.

IN THE STATE COURTS OF THE REPUBLIC OF SINGAPORE

Extension of time - Memorandum of Service

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Leave of Court is required for extension of time for MOS. If you have extracted the Order of Court document, please click the radio button - “Select the ‘Order of Court’ document”, select the ORC number and indicate the date of Order and Judge’s name.

If oral leave was granted, please click the radio button - “Order of Court Not Shown” and manually fill in the required details.

Please select “Yes” if you have been granted an extension of time for MOS.

ABC

DEF

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Please click here to add Garnishee’s name as a party in “Step 1”

Garnishee Application

DC /2014 ABC v DEF

ABC

DEF

34

For Garnishee application, please select “Garnishee” in the above field “Party Type”. The omission of Garnishee’s name is not detected upfront as Garnishee application is auto accepted at State Courts. Therefore, when you subsequently extract the Show Cause Order, the Garnishee’s name will be missing.

Garnishee Application

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Please indicate the number of days required for hearing (do not indicate as zero days).

In accordance with ROC, Order of Court which contains the direction relating to setting down of the action (O.42, r.9) is to be extracted prior to filing of the Notice to Set Down. The Set Down filing will be rejected if Order of Court is not extracted.

Set Down - Extraction of Order of Court

ABC

DEF

• OSS Act of Parliament / Subsidiary Legislation

• Ex parte OS for SCT Order

• Summons endorsement

• Attachment of documents in step 2

• IJ / FJ / ORC– “extra” documents

• DC Appeal - Certificate for security for costs

• Taxation

• Notice of Ceasing to Act as Solicitor 36

Errors Arising from Wrong Information

Originating Summons: Act of Parliament/Subsidiary Legislation

37

Please indicate the correct legislative provision. If the wrong provision is stated, the information in the Order of Court will be populated wrongly and will be rejected.

Please indicate the additional information in your OS application Eg: - Section 6 of the Motor Vehicles (Third-Party Risks

and Compensation) Act (Cap. 123) - Small Claims Tribunal order SCT/12345/2014 dated 1

July 2014

ABC

DEF

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Please indicate the relevant provision in the Rules of Court. If the wrong provision is stated, the information in the Order of Court will be populated wrongly and will be rejected.

Originating Summons: Act of Parliament/Subsidiary Legislation

Ex parte OS for SCT Order

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Select “Yes”

- For Garnishee and Examination Judgment Debtor applications

Please file under Magistrate’s Court (MC) jurisdiction. The fee payable for such application is $10 in accordance with item 110 in Appendix B of the Rules of Court. If the DC forum is selected, the OSS will be rejected.

Summons – Applicable endorsement in Step 1

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Upon completion of Step 1, please click on Next to proceed to Step 2.

Step 1 of the Summons filing

Please click the endorsement applicable to your filing. For ex-parte and by-consent application, the Summons will be dealt with in absentia and parties need only attend Court if a hearing date and time is fixed and endorsed on the Summons.

DC /2014 ABC v DEF

ABC

DEF

41

PDF document of the Summons is not to be attached in the Summons eForm. Applicable attachments like the by-consent endorsement is to be attached using the “Add” button. For Ex-parte and Inter-parte Summons applications, please do not upload the draft Order of Court.

Step 2 of the Summons filing

Summons - Attachment of documents in Step 2

Interlocutory Judgment (IJ) or Final Judgment (FJ)

42

For filing of IJ and FJ, please file under “Judgment”.

ABC

DEF

Interlocutory Judgment (IJ), Final Judgment (FJ) or

Order of Court (ORC)

43

Where the other party(s) did not acknowledge and return the Draft IJ/FJ/ORC, pursuant to O.42 R.8, please upload: • Letter to Registrar • Copy of letter that was

sent to the other party(s) • Draft IJ/FJ/ORC that was

not acknowledged

Do not attach the above documents in the Judgment e-Form.

Attachments are not to be annexed within the e-form. Please upload as below.

District Court Appeal – Certificate For Security For Costs

(By Way of Undertaking)

44

For Civil DCAs, please indicate “In the State Courts of the Republic of Singapore”. For Family DCAs, please indicate “In the Family Justice Courts of the Republic of Singapore”.

• For accounting reasons, GST should not be included in Section 1,2 and 3

• However, it may be included in the pdf document which is attached in the submission (if you are a GST registered law firm)

Taxation : GST indicated in Section 1, 2 and 3

45

Notice of ceasing to act as solicitor

46

As Leave of Court is required, please select “Yes”. Where oral leave was granted by DR, please also select “Yes”.

ABC

DEF

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Once you select “Yes”, the screen will automatically refresh and you will see this section.

If you have extracted the Order of Court, please click the radio button – “Select the ‘Order of Court’ document”, select the ORC number and indicate the date of Order and Judge’s name.

If oral leave was granted, please

click the radio button - “Order of Court Not Shown” and manually fill in the required details.

Notice of ceasing to act as solicitor

OTHER IMPORTANT INFORMATION

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Coram for Extraction of Orders and Judgments

Nature of application

Coram

Summary Judgment (O. 14)

Deputy Registrar

(DR)

Recording of by consent Interlocutory Judgment/Final

Judgment

(i) During CDR sessions at the PDRC

(ii) Before the Duty Registrar in the Civil Registry

(iii)During PTCs

(iv)During hearing of the Assessment of Damages (AD)

in the Civil Registry

Deputy Registrar

(DR)

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Coram

Final Judgment made at the conclusion of AD hearing

in the Civil Registry

Deputy Registrar

(DR)

Before the CTC judge:

(i) Recording of by consent Interlocutory

Judgment/Final Judgment on day of trial

(ii) Judgment pronounced at the conclusion of trial

District Judge

(DJ)/Magistrate

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Coram

Court directions given in

(i) O. 25 Summons for directions

(ii) O. 37 Summons for directions

(iii) CDR sessions at the PDRC

Deputy Registrar

(DR)

Appeals from decisions of DR in chambers (O. 55B)

District Judge (DJ)

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eLitigation FAQs

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Where required, please refer to the FAQs at www.elitigation.sg

THE SIMPLIFIED CIVIL PROCESS FOR MC CASES

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Simplified Civil Process for MC Cases

• The simplified process for all Magistrate’s Court (MC) suits started wef 1 November 2014. Please see the new Order 108 in the Rules of Court.

• Parties in DC cases may, by consent, opt into the simplified process pursuant to Order 108 Rule 1(2)).

• The simplified process does not apply to matters commenced by way of Originating Summons (OS).

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Points to note

Upfront discovery (Order 108 Rule 2):

• A List of Documents (LOD) has to be filed using Form 234 Rules of Court; and served with every pleading.

• The LOD is to be filed as a separate document from the pleading.

• It is not to be filed under ‘Other Supporting Documents’ in eLit, as it will be rejected.

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Points to note


• Please see screen shot for filing of LOD.

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Points to note


• Judgment in Default (JID) - If there is no LOD filed, an application for a JID under Order 13 (Default of Appearance to Writ) or Order 19 (Default of Defence) based on a Writ and Statement of Claim will be rejected for non-compliance.

57


Points to note

Case management conference (CMC) (Order 108 Rule 3):

• The Court will send a notice to parties to attend a CMC after a Defence is filed.

• CMCs will not be conducted for motor accident cases, industrial workplace accident, medical negligence and other personal injury (“PI”) cases.

• Parties are required to file:

- Form 63, Practice Directions (List of issues and witnesses); and

- Form 6A, Appendix B, Practice Directions (ADR Form) seven (7) days before the first CMC.

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Points to note

Excluded interlocutory applications (Order 108 Rule 4):

• Applications under Orders 14 (Summary Judgment), 24 (Discovery and Inspection of Documents) & 26 (Interrogatories) will no longer apply to MC suits.

• All summonses filed under these Orders will be rejected.

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Points to note

Simplified trials (Order 108 Rule 5):

• A case that is not resolved at the CMC will be set down for a simplified trial.

• The Order of Court giving directions for setting down the case must be extracted prior to filing the Notice for Setting Down.

• The Bundle for setting down is to be filed together with the Notice for Setting Down.

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Points to note

• Please refer to the hand-out for the Checklist of the documents to be filed pursuant to the new Order 108 and its accompanying Practice Directions

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ELITIGATION TRAINING COURSE CONTENTS

DAY 1

1) Introduction

2) Features and Functionalities

3) Cause Book Search

4) Administration

5) Alerts and Notifications

6) Amendment of Documents

7) Extracting Order of Court /

Judgment

8) Reports

9) Collaboration

10) Pack & Go

11) Recap of eLitigation Training

DAY 2

1) Filing Court Documents

2) Filing Probate Matters

3) Filing Family Matters - Writ of

Divorce

4) Filing Practicing Certificate

5) Filing Notice of Change of

Particulars

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ELITIGATION TRAINING SCHEDULE

https://www.elitigation.sg/_layouts/IELS/Home/TrgInfoCourseStructure.aspx

eLitigation Training for Users - 2 Full days

($642 incl 7% GST)

Date Time

28 - 29 January 2015 9.00am to 5.00pm

This training programme is a CPD Activity accredited with

Public Continuing Professional Development (CPD) points by Singapore Institute of Legal Education (SILE).



Q & A