Wish Controls Pte. Ltd. v Trident Water Systems Pte. Ltd.

Wish Controls Pte Ltd sued Trident Water Systems Pte Ltd in Originating Claim No 479 of 2024, and Trident counterclaimed. Judgment on the merits was given on 18 December 2025 in Wish Controls Pte Ltd v Trident Water Systems Pte Ltd [2025] SGHC 256. Wish Controls succeeded on its whole claim and was awarded $522,747.54. On the counterclaim, Trident proved three of the eight breaches it alleged but showed no resulting damage, so it received nominal damages of $1000 per breach, a total of $3000. This later judgment of the General Division of the High Court dealt only with the costs of the action.

1. Whether the costs claimed by Wish Controls for the main action were justified under the Supreme Court costs guidelines.
2. Whether Trident should receive any costs on a counterclaim that yielded only nominal damages, and how much.
3. Whether the two costs awards should be set off against each other.

Costs follow the event, adjusted for relative success. For the main action the court took guidance from Appendix G of the Supreme Court Practice Directions 2021. Wish Controls sought $98,000 plus disbursements, but that figure assumed three trial days when the trial lasted one. As the issues were reasonably complex and many documents were referred to, the court adopted roughly the middle of the guideline range.

On the counterclaim, the court rejected both sides' positions. Wish Controls said no costs were due because only nominal damages were awarded, but Trident had still proved a legal wrong. Trident asked for a 25% discount on the main action costs, arguing that the breaches led to Sato ending its contract; the court said this had no merit, since it had found in the merits judgment that Sato terminated without fault on Wish Controls' part. Trident proved only some breaches and no damage, so nominal costs were fixed.

Under O 21 r 2(5) of the Rules of Court 2021 the court set off the two awards so that only the balance was payable.

The court ordered Trident to pay Wish Controls costs of $80,000 plus disbursements of $6,418.25 for the main action, ordered Wish Controls to pay Trident fixed costs of $6000 all-in for the counterclaim, and, setting off one against the other, ordered Trident to pay Wish Controls $80,418.25 all-in.