Su Tiang Joo J:

GROUNDS OF JUDGMENT

Of equal importance, the public too must be able to depend on the honesty and integrity of all practitioners in the legal profession which plays an indispensable role in the administration of justice and conduct of matters in law for members of the public*.

(*as per Vernon Ong JCA (later FCJ) in Majlis Peguam v Lim Yin Yin (CA) para [28])

Introduction

[1]In undertaking a housing project, the plaintiff entrusted the seven defendants, four of whom were advocates and solicitors, two were law firms and one who was alleged to be held out to be a partner of one of the law firms, to handle the conveyancing aspect including collecting the purchase price and loan sums for its benefit. The plaintiff sued for inter alia breach of contract and trust and negligence for the monies which ought to have been received by the defendants and remitted to it, general, aggravated and exemplary damages, interest on the monies and damages together with costs on an indemnity basis. After a trial conducted over 12 days, judgment was pronounced in favour of the plaintiff and these are the grounds for the decision made.

[2]In this judgment, the following issues, which are not fre