Blowing hot and cold in litigation: abuse of process, election or approbation and reprobation? BWG v BWF [2020] SGCA 36

Abstract

ABSTRACT This note analyses the Singapore Court of Appeal's decision in BWG v BWF which allowed the adoption of inconsistent positions across related court proceedings against different parties. The decision raises crucial questions on the limits to be imposed on a party's freedom to pursue opposing rights in litigation, and how the doctrines of abuse of process, election by waiver, and approbation and reprobation should be applied. It is argued that the court's application of the abuse of process doctrine obscured the central exercise of assessing all the relevant interests and circumstances. The differing rationales underlying the common law doctrine of election and the equitable doctrine of approbation were also inadequately articulated, resulting in ambivalence concerning why they were deemed inapplicable. Finally, there was a missed opportunity to clarify how the doctrines overlap and yet differ.