16. Assessment of contribution
Feedback & supportSubject to subsection (3), in any proceedings for contribution under section 15, the amount of the contribution recoverable from any person shall be such as may be found by the court to be just and equitable having regard to the extent of that person’s responsibility for the damage in question.
Subject to subsection (3), the court shall have power in any such proceedings to exempt any person from liability to make contribution, or to direct that the contribution to be recovered from any person shall amount to a complete indemnity.
Where the amount of the damages which have or might have been awarded in respect of the damage in question in any action brought in Singapore by or on behalf of the person who suffered it against the person from whom the contribution is sought was or would have been subject to —
action
“action” means an action brought in Singapore.(4) Nothing in sections 15, 16, 17 and 18 shall affect any case where the debt in question became due or, as the case may be, the damage in question occurred before 1 January 1999.(5) A person shall not be entitled to recover contribution or be liable to make contribution in accordance with section 15 by reference to any liability based on breach of any obligation assumed by him before 1 January 1999.(6) The right to recover contribution in accordance with section 15 supersedes any right, other than an express contractual right, to recover contribution (as distinct from indemnity) otherwise than under sections 15, 16, 17 and 18 in corresponding circumstances; but nothing in sections 15, 16, 17 and 18 shall affect —(a)any express or implied contractual or other right to indemnity; or(b)any express contractual provision regulating or excluding contribution,which would be enforceable apart from sections 15, 16, 17 and 18 (or render enforceable any agreement for indemnity or contribution which would not be enforceable apart from sections 15, 16, 17 and 18). A person is liable in respect of any damage for the purposes of sections 15, 16, 17 and 18 if the person who suffered it (or anyone representing his estate or dependants) is entitled to recover compensation from him in respect of that damage (whatever the legal basis of this liability), whether tort, breach of contract, breach of trust or otherwise). References in sections 15, 16, 17 and 18 to an action brought by or on behalf of the person who suffered any damage include references to an action brought for the benefit of his estate or dependants. For the purposes of sections 15, 16, 17 and 18 —(a)“dependants” has the same meaning as in section 20; and(b)except in section 15(5),
any limit imposed by or under any written law or by any agreement made before the damage occurred;
any reduction by virtue of section 3 of the Contributory Negligence and Personal Injuries Act 1953; or
any corresponding limit or reduction under the law of a country outside Singapore,the person from whom the contribution is sought shall not, by virtue of any contribution awarded under section 15, be required to pay in respect of the damage a greater amount than the amount of those damages as so limited or reduced.