Ministry of Law High cost of litigation

Someone said the purpose of high cost of litigation is to discourage people from taking this route.

This is a bad reason.

People need to find a just solution to a dispute.

Some disputes can be solved by mediation or through the small claims court. But some cannot.

The high cost will prevent many people, who cannot afford it, to abandon this means of solving a dispute. It leads to the rich and powerful winning the disputes because the poor cannot afford the cost of litigation.

We need to find a better way bring down the cost of litigation.

Some countries appoint an ombudsman to handle some kinds of disputes. This concept started in Switzerland and has been adopted in other countries, e.g. Australia. Some ombudsman handles disputes with the government but some also handles disputes with business organizations.

I support the use of the ombudsman.

But a better solution is for the govt and the court to put a cap on the fees that are charged by lawyers. It is horrible that some senior counsels charge $20,000 for each day of hearing in court. This could represent one years of earning for a low wage worker.

Some cases can drag on for a long time in court. There should also be an overall cap on the legal fees for a case, so that it does not drag on for a long time in court.

I know of some court cases where the legal fees could come up to more than 1 million dollars.

Lawyers are happy with such a system, but is it fair to the ordinary people?

We need to address this flaw in our legal system.

Tan Kin Lian


 

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