Our Directors:
Michael Eu Hai Meng
Michael Eu Hai Meng
Michael specializes in Insurance Work and Commercial Litigation and handles both litigation and arbitration matters. He has advised on and handled a full range of general insurance matters, including: Workmen’s Compensation, Contractors’ All Risks, Public Liability, Fire, Personal Accident/Injury, Motor, Life, Professional Indemnity and Performance Bond claims.
About Michael
Michael graduated from the National University of Singapore in 1988 and joined the elite white-collar crime buster, Commercial Affairs Department, (1988-1991). He later practiced in Allen & Gledhill (1991-1993), Cooma, Lau & Loh (1993 -2001), and ComLaw LLC (2001-2006), before becoming a founding member and Managing Director of United Legal Alliance LLC (“ULA”) in 2006 where he remained until April 2021. On 1 May 2021, he set up CIVIC Legal LLC with Abdul Salim, Edwina Fan and Gloria Lee and held the position of Managing Director.
Michael also obtained his LLM from the National University of Singapore in 1992. He was elected as member and then a fellow with the Singapore Institute of Arbitrator
Michael sat on the Board of Governors of the Singapore College of Insurance from 2012 to 2020 and is currently the Chairman of its Academic Board. He has given numerous talks and conducted seminars on various areas of Insurance Law. He also serves as a Member of the Inquiry Panel constituted under the Legal Profession Act, a Vice Chairman of the National Anti-Doping Disciplinary Committee and Chairman of the Election Appeal Committee of the Football Association of Singapore. He enjoys sports and is an avid football fan.
A substantial number of cases handled by Michael are seminal cases on insurance law in Singapore.
Representative Cases
- Nanyang Insurance Co Ltd v Commercial Union Assurance Co PLC [1996] 2 SLR 372 – on double insurance and contribution between insurers
- Siang Hoa Goldsmith Pte Ltd v The Wing On Fire & Marine Insurance Co Ltd [1998] 2 SLR 260 & Court of Appeal [1998] 2 SLR 777 extent of Jeweller’s Block Policy cover and “fraud by customer” exclusion
- Visvalingam a/l Arumugan v Toh Gim Choon (S vickneswaran, Third Party) [1998] 3 SLR 974 – landmark case where court first adopted split multiplier approach in computation loss of future earnings of a foreign worker
- Chua Ah Beng v C&P Holdings Pte Ltd [2001] 3 SLR 106 and Chua Ah Beng v Commissioner for Labour [2002] 4 SLR 854 – common law duties of employer and workman’s rights to recover compensation under Workmen’s Compensation Act
- The Hartford Insurance Company (Singapore) Ltd v Chiu Teng Construction Co Pte Ltd Court of Appeal [2002] 1 SLR 278 – repudiation by insurers and statutory rights under the Third Party’s Right Against Insurers Act
- Econ Piling Pte Ltd v Aviva General Insurance Pte Ltd & Anor Court of Appeal [2006] 4 SLR 501 – purpose of performance bond and relevance of underlying contract on bond call
- Cosmic Insurance Corporation Ltd v United Oil Company Pte Ltd [2006] 3 SLR 236 – what constitutes compensation under the Workmen’s Compensation Act
- Zurich Insurance (Singapore) Pte Ltd v B-Gold Interior & Design Construction Pte Ltd Court of Appeal [2008] SGCA 27 – Law of Evidence, Contractors’ All Risks Policy and exclusion clause
- PC Connect Pte Ltd v HSBC Institutional Trust Services (S) Ltd v Bachmann Japanese Restaurant Pte Ltd [2010] SGHC 154 – burden of proof and nominal damages
- Chandran a/l Subbiah v Dockers Marine Pte Ltd Court of Appeal [2010] 1 SLR 786 – employer’s duty of care and Risk Assessment
- Pang Chew Kim (NOK of Poon Wai Tong, deceased) v Wartsila Singapore Pte Ltd [2012] SLR 15 – public policy and Workmen’s Compensation Act
- Mohammad Nazeem Bin Mustafah Kamal v MCST Plan No. 3023 [2012] SGHC 205 – Causation and Occupier’s liability
- BNM (administratrix of the estate of B, deceased) on her own and on behalf of others v National University of Singapore & Another Court of Appeal [2014] 4 SLR 931 - Causation and torts of negligence
- Siew Pick Chiang v Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co Ltd & Another [2016] SGHC 266 – one of the highest damages awards for personal accident in Singapore
- Kaliaperumal Karthik v Tat Wai Enterprise Pte Ltd [2017] SGDC 338 – employer’s duty and burden of proof
- Miah Rasel v 5 Ways Engineering Services Pte Ltd [2018] 3 SLR 480 – employer’s liability and plaintiff’s contributory negligence
- Lee Swee Chon v Kiat Seng Metals Pte Ltd [2018] SGHC 22 – employer’s liability and plaintiff’s contributory negligence
- Krishnamoorthy Kumar v Nam Hong Builders Pte Ltd [2020] SGDC25 – employer’s liability and plaintiff’s contributory negligence
- Kong Lingdong v Shan Yang Wood Products Pte Ltd [2021] SGDC 11 – employer’s liability and plaintiff’s contributory negligence
- Lim Kee Liew @ Victor Lim & Another v MCST 4407 [2021] SGSTB 7 – application under Building Maintenance & Strata Management Act
Additional Info
Key Practice Areas
- General Insurance
- Commercial Litigation
Admissions
- Advocate & Solicitor, Supreme Court of Singapore (1991)
Professional Qualifications
- LLB (Hons), National University of Singapore (1988)
- LLM, National University of Singapore (1992)
- MSIArb (2017)
- FSIArb (2017)
Appointments
- Board of Governors, Singapore College of Insurance (2012 to 2020)
- Chairman of Academic Board, Singapore College of INsurance (2020 to-date)
- Member of Inquiry Panel (Legal Profession Act)
- Vice-Chairman of National Anti-Doping Disciplinary Committee
- Chairman of Election Appeal Committee — Football Association Singapore
Publications
- Legal Aspects of Insurance, 2011, 2015 and 2018 edition (forthcoming) (contributor)
Languages
- English
- Mandarin