20. Right of action for wrongful act causing death
Feedback & supportLast amended by an amending law of 2022. 3 amendments in all.
If death is caused by any wrongful act, neglect or default which is such as would (if death has not ensued) have entitled the person injured to maintain an action and recover damages in respect thereof, the person who would have been liable if death had not ensued shall be liable to an action for damages, notwithstanding the death of the person injured.
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),
Subject to section 21(2), every such action shall be for the benefit of the dependants of the person (referred to in this section and in sections 21 and 22 as the deceased) whose death has been so caused.
Every action brought under this section shall be brought by and in the name of the executor or administrator of the deceased.
executor
“executor” means the executor or administrator of a deceased person, and includes, as regards any obligation, any person who takes possession of or intermeddles with the property of a deceased person;
If —
there is no executor or administrator of the deceased; or
no action is brought within 6 months after the death by and in the name of an executor or administrator of the deceased,the action may be brought by and in the name of all or any of the persons for whose benefit an executor or administrator could have brought it.
Not more than one action shall lie for or in respect of the same subject matter of complaint and every such action shall be brought within 3 years after the death of such deceased person.
The claimant in every such action brought under this section shall be required to deliver to the defendant or his solicitor full particulars of the persons for whom and on whose behalf the action is brought and of the nature of the claim in respect of which damages are sought to be recovered.
In any action brought under this section, the executor of the deceased may insert a claim for and recover any pecuniary loss to the estate of the deceased occasioned by such wrongful act, neglect or default, which sum when recovered shall be deemed part of the assets of the estate of the deceased.
In this section, “dependant” means —
the wife or husband or former wife of the deceased;
any parent, grandparent or great-grandparent of the deceased;
any child, grandchild or great-grandchild of the deceased;
any person (not being a child of the deceased) who, in the case of any marriage to which the deceased was at any time a party, was treated by the deceased as a child of the family in relation to that marriage; and
any person who is, or is the issue of, a brother, sister, uncle or aunt of the deceased.
In deducing any relationship for the purposes of subsection (8) —
an adopted person shall be treated as the child of the person or persons by whom he was adopted and not as the child of any other person; and
subject to paragraph (a), any relationship by affinity shall be treated as a relationship by consanguinity, any relationship of the half blood as a relationship of the whole blood, and the stepchild of any person as his child and an illegitimate person shall be treated as the legitimate child of his mother and reputed father.
In subsection (9)(a), “adopted” means adopted in pursuance of an adoption order made under the Adoption of Children Act 2022 or any corresponding previous written law or of any adoption recognised as valid by the law of Singapore.
Any reference in this section to injury includes any disease and any impairment of a person’s physical or mental condition.