FARM TO FORK SDN BHD v ADAMAS SG PTE LTD & Anor

Case Significance

Farm to Fork Sdn Bhd v Adamas Sg Pte Ltd and another [2024] SGHC 286 was decided in the General Division of the High Court on 14 November 2024 by Andre Maniam J in Suit No 752 of 2021, following hearings across late January, February and July 2024. The plaintiff, Farm to Fork Sdn Bhd, is a Malaysian company founded in 2015 by Jonathan Weins, Christian Edelmann and Jessica Li. Under a consultancy agreement between Farm to Fork and the first defendant, Adamas Sg Pte Ltd, Adamas provided the services of the second defendant, Mr Kim Jin Wu, as chief financial officer of Farm to Fork from 11 May 2021 to 1 September 2021; Mr Kim is the sole shareholder and director of Adamas. The judgment frames the issues around a consultancy agreement that allowed either party to terminate by prior written notice: whether the client could instead terminate immediately with payment in lieu of notice, whether the agreement was immediately terminated where the client purported to do so but did not make payment, and whether the client must keep paying consultancy fees if the agreement remained in force despite the consultant having done no work since the purported termination. The case concerned breach of contract, breach of confidence and the tort of inducement of breach of contract, with reference to the Malaysian Contracts Act and the Specific Relief Act.