BAGUS Legal Bites : Navigating Negligence for Groundup Founders  

Welcome to the inaugural edition of our new series: BAGUS Legal Bites! This series aims to guide groundup founders – the individuals directly leading groundups – through legal concepts in a bite-sized, accessible manner. 

Join Gabriel Li (VP, Legal at Kredivo) and Clifton Teo (Legal Counsel, APAC at StorHub Group) and other consummate legal professionals as they delve into legal topics that may impact groundup founders in day-to-day operations, be it legal disputes, intellectual property registration and enforcement, or employment matters.  

In this first article, Gabriel and Clifton speak to Tan Jun Hong*, Advocate at Duxton Hill Chambers, to find out more about the law on negligence.  

1. Can you tell us more about negligence?  

Negligence is when someone doesn't act as carefully as they should, and this causes harm to someone else. This usually happens when there is a special relationship between two people, like a boss and an employee, or when one person is responsible for the safety of another. In the context of being a founder of a groundup initiative, you might be made liable if members of the public or volunteers are injured while participating in the events that you organise.  

Accordingly, it is important to manage your risk exposure to potential lawsuits as a result of alleged negligence.  

2. Why does a groundup founder need to be aware of this area of law?  

Even if a groundup doesn't have any official contracts signed with its volunteers, it can still be responsible for accidents or mistakes that result in hurt to other people, whether they are volunteers for your events or members of the public who participate in your events. This is called negligence, and founders need to understand this risk.  

More often than not, groundup initiatives are based on informal structures as no company or registered society has been set up to facilitate a groundup’s events. A founder may therefore be made personally liable for anything that goes wrong during a volunteer event if he/she is found to be negligent in handling or organising the event.  

3. Is it very easy to be sued for negligence if a groundup founder is not careful?  

It depends on the facts. For instance, there are obvious risks when groundup founders organise events where participants take part in dangerous activities (for instance, involving outdoor adventure sports). In such cases, a groundup founder who does not encourage enough precautions to be undertaken by the volunteers might find himself liable for any injury that is suffered during the event. If in doubt, it is always better to take more precautions than less.  

4. How can an aspiring groundup founder manage his/her risk of being sued for negligence?  

Founders can try to protect themselves from legal problems by adding special clauses to their contracts. These clauses can limit or exclude their liability for certain losses or injuries suffered by the participants. Do note however that such clauses can't always achieve this, especially for things like personal injuries. The clauses also must be fair and reasonable, considering factors like the bargaining power each side has in the agreement and the extent of the loss or injury that is being excluded by such a clause.  

5. If a founder is involved in a lawsuit for negligence, what should he/she do to respond?  

A founder should promptly seek legal advice when involved in a negligence lawsuit because of the fact-specific nature of such disputes. There are a variety of legal clinics island-wide that can provide pro bono legal advice to founders should a potential lawsuit arise, and it is always advisable to seek legal advice as soon as possible to manage the legal risk before the situation worsens.  

*Tan Jun Hong is currently an Advocate practising in one of the entities in Duxton Hill Chambers (Singapore Group Practice). His practice areas span a wide range of commercial disputes, including those that non-profits may face.  

If you’d like to learn about other legal topics or have questions, share them with us at hey@bagustogether.sg. For more legal insights and information on other topics, check out our articles here!