Life is Like a Box of Chocolates: Our Singapore Actuarial Tables – Practices Today and What May Lie Ahead

Date: 15 May 2023, 2.00pm - 6.00pm SGT
Venue: Havelock Hall, Basement 2, State Courts Building, 1 Havelock Square, Singapore 059724

We hope that you will join us for a lively discussion led by a panel of senior lawyers, a legal academic and one of the actuaries who assisted in drawing up the Singapore Actuarial Tables. We are also graced by the attendance of Guest-of-Honour the Honourable Senior Judge Quentin Loh, who will give a keynote address.

The advent of the Singapore Actuarial Tables to aid in the computation of future losses for personal injury and death claims has been the single most significant development in the law on assessment of damages in this area in the last three decades at least.

It has been said that computing future losses “involves a double exercise in the art of prophesying not only what the future holds for the injured plaintiff but also what the future would have held for him if he had not been injured.” (Paul v Rendell (1981) 34 ALR 569, 571). In what is perhaps a more familiar quote, a certain wise man once said “Life is Like a Box of Chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.”

A serious injury or death in the family is often a life-changing event for those injured or left behind. As our legal community strives to refine the methodology, many of us grapple with several important questions. To take into account vicissitudes other than mortality, should there be an additional discounter to reduce the award as computed by the tables? How do other jurisdictions deal with this issue?

Should the tables be applied to non-residents and if not, what can be done to improve future awards for such litigants?

Do the tables apply to Loss of Inheritance claims?

There will also be a presentation by Special Needs Trust Co to introduce the services of trust companies in assisting families to manage the financial award post-litigation: “My Life after the Judges and the Lawyers”.

Registration Fee

Click here to register. SAL members may utilise credit dollars (C$).

Non-member Rate

$75.60 until 28 April 2023

$97.20 from 29 April 2023 onwards

Member Rate

$54.00 until 28 April 2023

$75.60 from 29 April 2023 onwards

For enquiries regarding this event, please email [email protected].