The counterclaim by Leong Sze Hian was thrown out by a high court judge due to Leong Sze Hian's failure to disclose a “reasonable cause of action” in his counterclaim.
Justice Aedit Abdullah said in a written judgment on Tuesday, 12 Mar 2019 that Leong Sze Hian counterclaim “discloses no recognized cause of action, let alone a reasonable one”. Justice Aedit Abdullah also cited a previous decision by the Court of Appeal “that the tort of abuse of process is not recognized in Singapore law”. The court ruled that this was because “there are ample legal mechanisms within the existing rules of civil procedure that afford innocent parties adequate legal remedies in the event that there is indeed an abuse of process by the party concerned on the other side” back then.
He also said that he did not accept Mr Leong’s argument that subsequent Government statements debunking the Facebook post and article ensured that no damage was caused to the plaintiff’s reputation, as this “did not mean that the statements complained of lost their defamatory effect thereafter”.
PM Lee's defamation suit against Leong Sze Hian will still carry on to go to trial. Did you expect this to turn out this way?
