Animal welfare group wins $26.5m in contamination suit

K.c. Vijayan Straits Times 6 Jun 13;

AS A shelter for rescued wildlife, it was meant to be clean, safe and ecologically sound.

Instead, part of the site ended up as a stinking, contaminated wasteland after a contractor filled the soil with woodchips that rotted.

Now, animal welfare group Acres - which first took legal action in 2008 - has been awarded $26.5 million in damages.

"After five long years, there has been some closure finally," its director Louis Ng told The Straits Times yesterday. "Justice has been served, and we hope to get final closure by pursuing payments from the defendants."

Acres - known in full as the Animal Concerns Research and Education Society - hired ANA Contractors to level a site the size of two football fields back in 2006.

It then built the $650,000 shelter to house creatures such as turtles, snakes and monkeys that were rescued from the illegal wildlife trade.

But 1.5ha of the Choa Chu Kang sanctuary had to be demolished after the contractor filled the earth with material believed to contain toxic hydrocarbon and other chemicals.

Foul-smelling brackish water leaked from the soil, and the National Environment Agency declared it a pollution threat to the nearby Kranji Reservoir.

Hiring a licensed toxic waste collector to clean it up will cost about $23 million, according to court documents.

And to stop the discharge from entering the reservoir, Acres had to install a special tank.

So far, this has set the group back by about $62,000.

In 2011, a court found ANA Contractors and site supervisor and director Tan Boon Kwee liable for the damage. Mr Tan was made a bankrupt last July, dragging out the court proceedings.

High Court assistant registrar James Lee has now set the sum of damages at $26.5 million.

It is believed to be the first case where a civic action group has successfully sued for environmental damage that is linked to the high degree of care needed to dispose of contaminated earth. Each tonne of soil that had to be removed cost between $400 and $600, court documents showed.

Other claims included the amount of wasted rent paid to the Singapore Land Authority for the use of the contaminated land.

Acres has sheltered about 2,700 animals at the site since September 2009, Mr Ng told The Straits Times yesterday.

After being rescued and kept in the sanctuary, the animals are released in Singapore or abroad.

Lawyers Muralli Rajaram and Suresh Nair, who are representing Acres, said that whatever legal costs they recover from the other party will be donated to the animal welfare group.

Acres 'could have saved 4 times as many wild creatures'
Lim Yan Liang Straits Times 6 Jun 13;

THE first signs of trouble were a black discharge seeping from the soil and a smell of rotten eggs.

Only later did Acres director Louis Ng realise what had happened.

The contractor hired by his animal welfare group to level the ground for a new wildlife shelter had filled the soil with woodchips - which slowly began to rot.

Yesterday - after the group was awarded $26.5 million in damages - Mr Ng told The Straits Times that four times as many wild creatures could have been saved over the past five years had it not been for the problems.

Instead, Acres - known in full as the Animal Concerns Research and Education Society - not only had to do without the majority of its enclosures, but also had to clean up the mess left behind.

The group hired ANA Contractors in 2006 to level its 2ha plot in Sungei Tengah and build the shelter for creatures such as turtles and snakes that were rescued from the illegal wildlife trade.

"We started seeing a blackish discharge on the ground towards the end of the year, when it rained almost every day," said Mr Ng. "This was accompanied by a rotten egg smell."

Soil and water quality tests showed that 1.5ha of the plot needed to be demolished, as the material used to fill the earth was toxic.

Worse still, none of the more than 60 animal enclosures on the plot could be used, as the ground was not stable.

"As the woodchips decomposed, they would leave a vacuum, and eventually the structures would have collapsed," said Mr Ng.

This meant the group had to forgo rescuing some animals - including certain types of monkeys and reptiles - due to a lack of space.

Acres decided to leave the contaminated 1.5ha portion of the Choa Chu Kang shelter vacant.

Yet it still had to pay the Singapore Land Authority rent for the whole site, which was the size of two football fields.

Although the authority waived rent for the unused area from January 2010 out of goodwill, the court judged that the wasted payments amounted to more than $217,000.

Mr Ng was pleased with the $26.5 million judgment.

But he said it remained to be seen how much the group could collect as ANA Contractors director Tan Boon Kwee is now bankrupt.

"The question now is of course if he (Mr Tan) pays up, (and) it's up to the official assignee to determine how much we can get from him," said Mr Ng.

Court documents show it will cost more than $26 million to clean up and rebuild the entire site.

"We don't have that kind of money in the bank to start with," said Mr Ng.

Getting contractor to pay up 'will be difficult for Acres'
But the defendant, though a bankrupt, still has assets that can be seized, says Ng

Walter Sim Straits Times 8 Jun 13;

AN ANIMAL welfare group that has been awarded $26.5 million in damages over soil pollution at a shelter for rescued wildlife is bracing itself for a potential struggle to recover the money.

Acres' director Louis Ng admitted that it will be "probably quite difficult" to get the full sum from a contractor that caused the damage by filling the earth with toxic woodchips that rotted.

Lawyers warned that it is "not uncommon" for claimants in civil cases to never fully recover the damages awarded to them.

Mr Jason Lim of DeSouza Lim & Goh LLP said there are enforcement measures available. "But after these measures have been exhausted, the matter should end."

Acres (Animal Concerns Research and Education Society) successfully sued ANA Contractor and its then-director Tan Boon Kwee.

It hired the firm in 2006 to level a 2ha plot of land - roughly the size of two football fields - to build a $650,000 wildlife shelter. But the contractor filled the earth with material believed to contain toxic hydrocarbon and other chemicals.

Mr Tan, 50, was declared bankrupt last July.

Lawyer Suresh Nair of Straits Law Practice LLC, which represented Acres, said: "Going forward, we will consider the most effective ways to execute the judgment." He declined to comment on the specifics of the recovery process.

Mr Ng said he was happy that "justice has been served". He added that he is "still hopeful" that it will not be a "paper judgment" - a legal term for cases where next to nothing can be recovered by the claimant.

"We know ANA Contractor is not a $1 company, having had several big contracts," he told The Straits Times.

"Mr Tan cannot possibly be a poor guy - he used to own assets such as a resort on Pulau Ubin."

Lawyers told The Straits Times that claimants in such circumstances have several options to pursue.

Whether the claim is made against companies or individuals, these options include a "writ of seizure and sale".

Mr Lawrence Teh, a partner at Rodyk & Davidson LLP, said: "The party who won can apply to the court to seize and sell the property of the other party. Sale proceeds can then go towards satisfying the judgment amount."

He added: "The trick is to identify what property belongs to the party who lost, and what the best way of recovering payment might be."

Meanwhile, the claimant can also apply to have the debtor's bank accounts frozen and the money transferred directly to them.

Mr Tan was declared bankrupt last July after he was unable to repay the legal fees of Acres in the civil case.

In situations like this, a claim should be made to the trustee in a bankruptcy who is in charge of the distribution of all available property to the creditors, said Mr Teh.

Among the damages sought by Acres was about $23 million, which was spent to clean up the toxic waste, and $62,000 for the installation of a special tank to stop foul-smelling brackish water that had leaked from the soil from entering the nearby Kranji Reservoir.

A spokesman for the Singapore Land Authority, which leases the site to Acres, told The Straits Times: "There have been no other cases on tenanted State land where woodchips were used to fill the ground."

She added that earthworks are not allowed unless prior permission is obtained.

In 2010, the National Environment Agency pressed criminal charges against ANA Contractor and Mr Tan for polluting the reservoir.

The company - which was awarded the Building and Construction Authority Green Mark Award for an eco-sustainable project in 2007, was fined $330,000. Mr Tan was jailed for two weeks and fined $65,000.

At the 2ha Sungei Tengah site, 0.5ha has been used for an office and a wildlife recovery and rehabilitation centre, which has saved 2,700 wild animals since 2009. But Mr Ng said four times as many creatures could have been rescued if not for the teething problems.

The remaining 1.5ha, which is contaminated, remains vacant.

"We don't have $26.5 million to rectify the problem and rebuild everything," said Mr Ng. He appealed to construction companies to help the non-profit entity. "It has always been our dream to open a rescue centre, but to watch the whole thing collapse..."

Acres' lawyers, Mr Nair and Mr Muralli Rajaram, have said that whatever legal costs they recover will be donated to the animal welfare group.