Insurance & Reinsurance

Our Firm’s Insurance & Reinsurance practice works with domestic and international clients for its detailed analyses and effective strategies.

The team is regularly appointed to advise and represent insurers on general insurance disputes with their insureds, involving Public Liability Policies, Industrial All Risk Policies, Professional Indemnity Policies, Fire Policies, Trade Credit Policies, Reinsurance Policies and Business Interruption Policies. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the team provided timely advice to insurers on the impact of the recent delivery of the UK Supreme Court decision in FCA v Arch Insurance (UK) Ltd and others dealing with the interpretation of Disease and Prevention of Access clauses in Business Interruption Policies, and whether insurance coverage is provided for losses caused by the occurrence of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Our extensive experience working with Singapore’s leading insurers and reinsurers over the years has yielded an in-depth understanding of the insurance market. Our team members are adept at general litigation, arbitration, and construction disputes and adjudications under the Building And Construction Industry Security Of Payment Act.

Testament to the team’s quality, the practice has been ranked favourably by Chambers & Partners and Legal 500. Feedback from clients include the following:

• “My experience with the firm has primarily been in respect of professional liability claims against professionals namely, lawyers. The team has a sound knowledge of the law, and is always responsive. Very importantly, where a case merits settlement, the firm pursues this course quickly and helps resolve the matter thereby saving costs for the clients.”
• “Lok Vi Ming SC, his team members are always available to clients. They give due respect to the clients, and guide them well in relation to their cases. No false hopes are given. The pros and cons of each matter are properly assessed, and clients are well advised.”

• “The team is very responsive with quick turnaround. It is also very mindful of our needs and objectives as clients.”

Besides assisting clients with their most complex insurance disputes, the team also advises and assists with drafting and review of terms for various classes of policies, including travel policies, personal accident, home contents / burglary, fire, errors and omissions.

Some notable cases include:

• Acting for the insured persons in a dispute between a professional services firm’s former client and the professional services firm. The matter is linked to the insolvency of the Hin Leong debacle, one of the largest corporate fraud in Singapore.
• Acting for the insured defendant in a dispute involving a train collision in Singapore due to a signalling system malfunction. The incident caused several injuries to train passengers.
• Acting for the defendants involved in high profile incidents such as the collapse of a Heritage Tembusu tree in the Singapore Botanic Gardens in February 2017 which resulted in a fatality.
• Acting for the insured defendant in a claim regarding the collapse of the Westbound viaduct from the Tampines Expressway to the Pan-Island Expressway and Upper Changi Road East in July 2017, which resulted in one fatality.
• Acting for the insured defendant in a claim regarding a gas explosion which took place in 2020 in Jalan Buroh causing the biggest fire the Singapore Civil Defence Force said was the biggest they have had to fight, resulting in one fatality.