STEVEN KURNIAWAN PRAYITNO v OH CHIN ANN & 2 Ors
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Judges (1)
Counsel (10)
Case Significance
Steven Kurniawan Prayitno v Oh Chin Ann and others [2026] SGHC 70 is a High Court General Division judgment delivered by Chan Seng Onn SJ on 31 March 2026, arising from the sale of 14 luxury cars belonging to the plaintiff — an Indonesia-resident — that had been imported from the United Kingdom into Singapore pending re-export to Indonesia. A delay in obtaining Indonesian import permits led Oh Chin Ann and Charmy Trading Pte Ltd to sell all 14 cars to defray mounting storage costs, which the plaintiff contends was unauthorised. The plaintiff sued the first and second defendants for breach of their duties as bailees and for breach of contract, and additionally sought to hold the third defendant, Kathiresan Loga Krishnasamy (formerly trading as Charmy Trading Enterprise), liable as consignee for two of the 14 cars. The plaintiff was represented by K Keerthana and Nevinjit Singh J of Peter Ong Law Corporation; the first and second defendants by Patrick Fernandez and Mohamed Arshad bin Mohamed Tahir of Fernandez LLC; the third defendant by Ambalavanar Ravidass, Divya Lakshmi d/o K Durai, and Rohan Dave Rao of Regal Law LLC. The judgment cites 29 authorities (21 Singapore, 8 foreign).
Summary
A plaintiff engaged the first and second defendants to import 14 cars from the United Kingdom to Singapore for onward export to Indonesia, but delays in obtaining Indonesian import permits caused mounting storage costs, leading the defendants to sell all 14 cars to defray those costs without the plaintiff's agreement. The central dispute, tried on an entirely oral contract, was whether the defendants had any right to sell the cars to recover storage fees. The court found the defendants in breach of their duties as bailees and the second defendant in breach of contract, allowing the plaintiff's claim and ordering an inquiry into damages for 13 of the 14 cars, while dismissing the claim against the third defendant.
What was decided in Steven Kurniawan Prayitno v Oh Chin Ann [2026] SGHC 70?
Chan Seng Onn SJ of the High Court determined on 31 March 2026 whether Oh Chin Ann and Charmy Trading Pte Ltd were entitled as bailees to sell all 14 of the plaintiff's cars imported from the UK to recover unpaid storage costs, and whether the third defendant was liable as consignee for two of those cars.
Statutes Cited
Cases Cited (29)
Judgment
Read the full judgment on the official Singapore Courts portal.
Read on eLitigationSource: eLitigation ([2026] SGHC 70)