On Personal Injury Loss: The Case of Malaysia and Singapore

Abstract

Compensation awarded by the courts to plaintiffs in a personal injury or fatal accident action is usually in the form of a lump sum. The current practice of courts in Malaysia and Singapore in the determination of such lump sum awards uses the multiplier times multiplicand approach. In this paper, we examine the factors and problems raised by this approach. An alternative method which incorporates the effects of mortality directly in the calculation is presented. The effects of taxation and inflation are also discussed.