21. Bereavement
Feedback & supportLast amended by an amending law of 2009.
An action under section 20 may consist of or include a claim for damages for bereavement.
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),
A claim for damages for bereavement shall only be for the benefit of such of the following persons as survive the deceased:
the wife or husband of the deceased;
where there is no spouse by or for whom a claim can be made under paragraph (a), the children of the deceased;
where there is no person by or for whom a claim can be made under paragraph (a) or (b), the parents of the deceased or, if the deceased was illegitimate, his mother;
where there is no person by or for whom a claim can be made under paragraph (a), (b) or (c), but the deceased was at the date of his death a minor, any person who during any marriage to which that person was a party treated the deceased as a child of the family in relation to that marriage;
where there is no other person by or for whom a claim can be made under this subsection, any brother or sister of the deceased.
The right of a person to claim under this section for damages for bereavement shall not survive for the benefit of his estate.
Subject to subsection (6), the sum to be awarded as damages under this section shall be $15,000.
Where there is a claim for damages under this section for the benefit of 2 or more persons, the sum awarded shall be divided equally between them (subject to any deduction falling to be made in respect of costs not recovered from the defendant).
The Minister may, by order published in the Gazette, substitute the sum specified in subsection (4) with such other sum as he thinks fit.