Many motorists have encountered this experience. The car in front stopped suddenly. The car at the bank knocked into the bumper. It was a small scratch. Both parties agreed not to file any claims.
Later, the motorist of the rear car received a claim, usually through a lawyer, for a sum that is way above the actual damages. It seemed that the damages have been inflated. If you do not settle the claim, the lawyer would file a legal suit and take you to court.
What would you do, if you received an exaggerated claim? Share your views here.
Tan Kin Lian
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Land banking - Gathering on 12 June
The leaders of the investor group are arranging a gathering of investors as follows:
Date: Saturday 12 June 2010
Time: 10.30 am
Place: Speaker's Corner, Hong Lim Park
They wish to organise the investors to seek the recovery of their investments on the land banking products. If you are involved in this product, you can attend the gathering and submit your particulars and make contact with the other investors. The gathering can decide on collective action.
They have invited me to speak at this gathering. The organisers will be alerting the media for this gathering to be publicised and covered.
Please take part in this survey.
Date: Saturday 12 June 2010
Time: 10.30 am
Place: Speaker's Corner, Hong Lim Park
They wish to organise the investors to seek the recovery of their investments on the land banking products. If you are involved in this product, you can attend the gathering and submit your particulars and make contact with the other investors. The gathering can decide on collective action.
They have invited me to speak at this gathering. The organisers will be alerting the media for this gathering to be publicised and covered.
Please take part in this survey.
Morality and money
Would a reputable lawyer advise a client to write a contract that is "within the law" but in essence is cheating the public?
Many people consider this situation to be all right for the following reasons:
- it is all about making money, i.e. legal fees
- their duty is to the client (who pays their fees)
- if the law is not clear, it is acceptable for the lawyer to take advantage of the unclarity.
I wonder if the lawyer has a duty that is above making money? Do they have a moral duty to ensure that the society is honest and fair?
I remember an episode in the move "Godfather" where the inhouse lawyer consider it to be his duty to protect the mafia family from being prosecuted under the law, but in all other respects, what the mafia family does is not his concern. Has this type of thinking invaded our society?
The shady practices used to be the work of small time lawyers who seek quick profit. In recent years, these types of practices appear to be acceptable to reputable firms, who have become motivated by greed.
Tan Kin Lian
Many people consider this situation to be all right for the following reasons:
- it is all about making money, i.e. legal fees
- their duty is to the client (who pays their fees)
- if the law is not clear, it is acceptable for the lawyer to take advantage of the unclarity.
I wonder if the lawyer has a duty that is above making money? Do they have a moral duty to ensure that the society is honest and fair?
I remember an episode in the move "Godfather" where the inhouse lawyer consider it to be his duty to protect the mafia family from being prosecuted under the law, but in all other respects, what the mafia family does is not his concern. Has this type of thinking invaded our society?
The shady practices used to be the work of small time lawyers who seek quick profit. In recent years, these types of practices appear to be acceptable to reputable firms, who have become motivated by greed.
Tan Kin Lian
School holidays
I estimate that 20% of Singaporeans are on holiday during June. This is reflected by less cars on the road and less vistors to my blog in June. If you access to some official statistics, please share them here.
A fine society
Singapore used to be a "fine" society. There is a fine for littering and for jay-walking (i.e. crossing the road against traffic regulations". This has been relaxed for the past one or two decades. Nowadays, jay-walking is no longer enforced.
The environmental agency is now taking action to enforce littering. It is time to take action to enforce other aspects of our law, such as jay-walking and cheating. We need to revert back to our fine and orderly society.
Tan Kin Lian
The environmental agency is now taking action to enforce littering. It is time to take action to enforce other aspects of our law, such as jay-walking and cheating. We need to revert back to our fine and orderly society.
Tan Kin Lian
Inflated repair cost
Hello
I'm a 23 yrs old guy who got into an car accident few months back. the accident happened like this, it was red light and when it showed green light the car infront started to move. I was moving at low speed as well and before i knew it, he braked. I managed to brake in time but unfortunately I kissed the back of his bumper and there was no scratches no dent.
I passed him my NRIC, name and contact. However, I did not take down his particulars and did not take any pictures or report to the police about this incident because I thought it was a small matter. Today, he sent me a letter claiming over $6,000 in repair and over $2,000over on 16 days of car rental.
I saw your internet forum about car fraud. How can I prove that the original damage was small? I did offer him to go to workshop to sort this out together but he refused. As there wasn't anyone in my car, I got no witness and evidence. How could i use his evidence against him?
REPLY
You can pass the case to your insurance company to handle. you can make a report that it was a small dent and that both parties agreed not to report the accident and make a claim.
I'm a 23 yrs old guy who got into an car accident few months back. the accident happened like this, it was red light and when it showed green light the car infront started to move. I was moving at low speed as well and before i knew it, he braked. I managed to brake in time but unfortunately I kissed the back of his bumper and there was no scratches no dent.
I passed him my NRIC, name and contact. However, I did not take down his particulars and did not take any pictures or report to the police about this incident because I thought it was a small matter. Today, he sent me a letter claiming over $6,000 in repair and over $2,000over on 16 days of car rental.
I saw your internet forum about car fraud. How can I prove that the original damage was small? I did offer him to go to workshop to sort this out together but he refused. As there wasn't anyone in my car, I got no witness and evidence. How could i use his evidence against him?
REPLY
You can pass the case to your insurance company to handle. you can make a report that it was a small dent and that both parties agreed not to report the accident and make a claim.
Life time savings
I posted a story of a non-working woman who invested all of her savings in a 21 year endowment policy. She would have paid $18,000 in premium and obtained a return of $16,000 on maturity. This gave a negative return. Part of the premium went into paying for a rider to provide additiona insurance protection, but this was over-priced.
She obtained a meagre return of less than 1% per annum on the savings portion of the premium. The insurance company would probably have earned an average yield of 5% per annum. More than 80% of the gains went into the commission, expenses and profit. The meagre return could not even cover the inflation during the years. To this woman, it represented most of her lifetime savings, which has been denied of a fair return for a financial plan that was traditionally supposed to be trustworthy.
When I think about the million of policyholders who have suffered this fate, I wonder about the harm that the life insruance industry and the advisers had done to the people. Perhaps this applied to only some of the companies and agents, and that the other companies could have offered a more decent return. But, to my knowledge, quite a large number of people have suffered from the poor return.
Even life insurance companies that offered decent return in the past could change their strategy to focus on making profit for their shareholders and agents. Their policyholders would be placed in a helpless situation, unless the regulator steps forward to protect the interest of the public. In some countries, the regulators were appalled by the type of predactory practices and have taken steps to control the excesses.
Tan Kin Lian
She obtained a meagre return of less than 1% per annum on the savings portion of the premium. The insurance company would probably have earned an average yield of 5% per annum. More than 80% of the gains went into the commission, expenses and profit. The meagre return could not even cover the inflation during the years. To this woman, it represented most of her lifetime savings, which has been denied of a fair return for a financial plan that was traditionally supposed to be trustworthy.
When I think about the million of policyholders who have suffered this fate, I wonder about the harm that the life insruance industry and the advisers had done to the people. Perhaps this applied to only some of the companies and agents, and that the other companies could have offered a more decent return. But, to my knowledge, quite a large number of people have suffered from the poor return.
Even life insurance companies that offered decent return in the past could change their strategy to focus on making profit for their shareholders and agents. Their policyholders would be placed in a helpless situation, unless the regulator steps forward to protect the interest of the public. In some countries, the regulators were appalled by the type of predactory practices and have taken steps to control the excesses.
Tan Kin Lian
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