CIV 5 - Enforcement of Court Orders PDF

00:01 Sometimes, getting a favorable court order is not enough. The losing party may simply refuse to comply with it. The winning party may thus have to take steps to enforce the court order against known assets of the losing party. The rules of court contains several avenues which the winning part...

00:01 Sometimes, getting a favorable court order is not enough. The losing party may simply refuse to comply with it. The winning party may thus have to take steps to enforce the court order against known assets of the losing party. The rules of court contains several avenues which the winning party can take advantage of to obtain a measure of recovery. We will cover some of these in the lecture. 00:29 Take note that the phrase court order referred to in this lecture is defined in Order 22, Rule 1, Sub 1 of the Rules of Court. As a preliminary point, take note that a court order generally takes effect from its date and the filing of an appeal would not operate to automatically state enforcement. An enforcement respondent who wishes enforcement to be stayed will need to file an application to seek a stay order. 00:57 Whether or not such a stay is then granted is a discretionary matter for the court and would usually require a showing of some special circumstances. Note that such special circumstances are circumstances that go to the enforcement of the court order and not the court order\'s validity or correctness. An example, as set out on screen, is where a successful appeal could be rendered nougatary if a stay is not imposed in the meantime. 01:28 Assuming no order is made staying enforcement, the enforcement applicant has a suite of recourses open to it. We start with a procedure called Examination of Enforcement Respondent, which was previously called EJD or Enforcement of Judgment Data under the old rules of court. Ideally, before you start an action as claimant, you should seek to obtain a general idea of the defendant\'s asset position. 01:57 That would reduce the risk of any court order you eventually obtain turning out to be just a paper judgement. Sometimes, that is however not possible to do. Assuming you now have a judgement in hand, but are not sure what assets the defendant has against which you can enforce, Order 22, Rule 11 provides an avenue for such information gathering via the EER procedure. 02:23 This allows the enforcement applicant to compel the attendance of the enforcement respondent before the court to answer questions about the extent and whereabouts of its assets. 02:35 The enforcement applicant may apply for an EER order by filing a summons without notice supported by an affidavit. Given the without notice nature of the application, the enforcement applicant will be subject to a duty to provide full and frank disclosure of all material facts. The form of the EER order and what it should annex are set out on screen. This will have to be served personally on the enforcement respondent. 03:04 where the enforcement respondent is an entity, the order shall be served personally on the officer who is to attend the examination. If the examinee finds that any question in the questionnaire is unreasonable, he or she has to contact the enforcement applicant to find out if the issue can be resolved before the hearing. If satisfactory answers to the questionnaire are given by way of an affidavit or stat declaration, 03:33 Prior to the examination hearing, the enforcement applicant may agree to discharge the order at the hearing, in which case the enforcement respondent need not attend the hearing. 03:47 If the hearing is not vacated, the examinee will be orally examined by the enforcement applicant at the hearing, and through such examination, the enforcement applicant\'s aim would be to unearth information concerning assets against which enforcement can take place. I should highlight two other points before we leave the topic of EER. First, in light of the case of Burgundy Global cited in your syllabus, permission of court is required. 04:17 before the EER order may be served abroad on him or her. Such permission can be sought by applying various summons without notice, supported by affidavit pursuant to Order 8, Rule 1, Sub 2. Second, take note that even though EER is essentially an info process, the new Order 22, Rule 11, Sub 4, now deems it as a form of enforcement of the underlying 04:45 such that it would be caught by any order staying enforcement. This essentially reverses the previous position as set out in the case of PT Bakery, which held that EJD proceedings can proceed not withstanding an order staying enforcement, since it was simply an information gathering process and does not in itself constitute a mode of execution. Armed with information on the defendant\'s assets, 05:12 an enforcement applicant can take steps to apply for an appropriate enforcement order to seek recovery against those assets. Under the old rules of court, different modes of enforcement were addressed under several separate orders. Order 22, rule 2 of the current ROC simplifies matters by consolidating all methods of enforcement into a single enforcement order. 05:41 including an order for the seizure and sale of property and an order for the attachment of a debt. An order for seizure and sale of property is essentially an order directing the sheriff to seize the enforcement respondent\'s property and then have it sold for proceeds to pay off the judgment debt. 06:02 An order for the attachment of a debt, or what was previously called a garnishly order, involves satisfying the judgment debt using debts owing to the enforcement respondent. For example, the money standing in the enforcement respondent\'s bank account is a debt owing by the bank to the enforcement respondent. An attachment order would in such a case direct the bank to 06:30 in the Enforcement Respondent\'s bank account to the Enforcement Applicant. Take note that these various forms of Enforcement Orders are cumulative, meaning you can avail yourself to one or more at the same time depending on what form the known assets are in, which is something you may find out through the EER process. In terms of procedure, an Enforcement Applicant may apply for an Enforcement Order by way of summons without notice in Form 38. 07:00 supported by an affidavit complying with Order 22, Rule 2, Sub 4. Assuming an enforcement order is granted, take note of the provisions on validity, which are on screen. Note also Order 22, Rule 6, which details how the enforcement order should be carried out by the sheriff. In particular, Sub Rules 1 and 2 provide that unless the enforcement order specifies the sequence of enforcement, 07:29 The sheriff may carry out the terms of the order in any sequence. If you are acting for an enforcement applicant, you should consider the sequencing carefully. For example, if there are known bank accounts with large balances sufficient to satisfy the judgement debt, it may be sensible for the attachment order to be carried out first, ahead of a seizure and sale order concerning other properties. These may save time and costs for your client. 08:00 Where attachment orders served on non-parties are concerned, Order 22, Rule 9 stipulates X that the non-party should and should not do during the stipulated timeframe. Finally, take note that the enforcement respondent does have an avenue to object. The procedure for doing so and how such objections shall be resolved are addressed by Order 22, Rule 10. This brings us to the end of the lecture. 08:29 But before we close, I should highlight that the modes of execution we have gone through are also relevant to the enforcement of foreign court orders and arbitral awards. The judgment creditors or award creditors in such cases would however first need to take steps to enforce the foreign order or award in the Singapore Court pursuant to the provisions set out in your syllabus under the subheading Enforcement of Foreign Judgements and Arbitral Awards. 08:59 After that is done, the modes of execution we have gone through can then be engaged. B24 CIV - Enforcement of Court Orders - General Rule: **[A court order takes effect from its date, and the filing of an appeal would not operate automatically to stay enforcement]** - O22 r13 - Examination of Enforcement Respondent (\"EER\") - Note Burgundy Global Exploration Corp v Transocean Offshore Intl Ventures Ltd \[2014\] 3 SLR 381 at \[110\]-\[115\]: the Court's **[permission]** is required before an EER order may be served abroad a foreign officer of the enforcement respondent entity Note also the effect of O 22 r 11(4); an order staying enforcement of a court order would also stay EER proceedings (c.f., the previous position in PT Bakrie Investindo v Global Distressed Alpha Fund 1 \[2013\] 4 SLR 1116) Consolidated procedure (O22 r2) - No later than 3 days after the Court order (O 22 r 2(3)-(4)) - Enfrocement Order is valid for 12 months ( O 22 r 2(5)-(6)) - (O22 r6) - Right of Respondent to object (O22 r10)