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LAWYER Liaw Jin Poh's client had lost a case and was ordered to pay the winning party $10,000 in damages and legal costs.
But when it emerged that Mr Cheh Wang Sut was bankrupt and could not pay up, the winning side went to the courts seeking an order to make Mr Liaw foot the bill for his client instead.
The lawyer acting for Mr Manickam Nagarajan, Mr Lam Wai Seng, argued that Mr Liaw should have checked if Mr Cheh was a bankrupt.
But a District Judge dismissed the claim, saying it was unfair and unreasonable to expect a lawyer to do so.
'It is not the practice of lawyers to do bankruptcy searches of their own clients,' said Judge Leslie Chew.
If it had been known that Mr Cheh had been declared bankrupt, the hearing would have ended as he had no money to pay if he lost anyway.
Such costs incurred after the date of bankruptcy cannot be claimed from the proceeds of the bankrupt's estate, unlike costs before the bankruptcy date.
Lawyers said it is rare for a lawyer to be sued when his client defaults on payments to the winning party.
The only reported case of a lawyer being held personally liable for his bankrupt-client was in 2005 when the lawyer was held personally liable as he knew his client was a bankrupt and did not get the Official Assignee's consent to act for him as required under the rules of bankruptcy.
Read the full story in Thursday's edition of The Straits Times.
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