KUALA LUMPUR: A lawyer in Singapore has been disbarred following professional misconduct in two separate cases involving migrant workers seeking compensation for workplace injuries.
The Straits Times reported that in one of the cases, lawyer Joseph Chen entered into a settlement agreement without informing or obtaining consent from his client.
He then used the S$6,000 settlepayment to cover his firm's fees and pay his staff.
In a second case, Chen's failure to act over a nine-month period resulted in his client's lawsuit being automatically dismissed.
Chen was disbarred on Nov 25 by the Court of Three Judges, led by Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon, who holds the power to suspend or disbar errant lawyers.
According to the report, Chen was the sole proprietor of Joseph Chen & Co, and was called to the bar in 1998.
The Straits Times said in 2016, Chen was hired by Bangladeshi national Jony Advaita Sarkar, who was struck by a large metal pipe while working for his then-employer GSI Offshore on premises owned by Dyna-Mac Engineering Services.
He suffered a 2 per cent permanent disability, and returned to Bangladesh in August 2017. Hony had appointed the law firm to act for him and signed a power of attorney that allowed Chen to act on his behalf.
In November 2017, the firm filed a lawsuit against Jony's former employer and Dyna-Mac on his behalf claiming damages of at least S$172,070.63, which was settled in late 2018.
However, under the settlement terms, Jony was to receive the total sum of S$11,000 with $6,000 to be paid by Dyna-Mac and the remaining S$5,000 by GSI Offshore.
In January 2020, the report said the law firm filed a notice to discontinue the suit against Dyna-Mac, while GSI Offshore did not pay the S$5,000.
The Straits Times said Jony found out about the settlement in November 2020, and in the following month, lodged a complaint with the Singapore Law Society.