Corporate Divorce in Family Companies

The life of a family dispute is often nasty, brutish, and long. It is no less so when the courts and a massive business empire are involved. Thio Syn Kym Wendy v Thio Syn Pyn featured all three. A shareholder oppression claim – the Singapore equivalent of an unfair prejudice petition – lay at the heart of this high-profile family feud. The dispute was heard by none other than “Singapore’s most prolific and respected corporate law trial judge”, Judge of Appeal Judith Prakash, sitting as a trial judge in the Singapore High Court. In arriving at a practical solution to the dispute at hand, Prakash JA employed an ingenious approach to family companies that departed from the English orthodoxy, yet was so clearly correct on the facts as to be unimpeachable in the result. Her Honour’s recognition of family companies as a category distinct from quasi-partnerships is a welcome contribution to the dynamic body of Commonwealth jurisprudence that is gradually outgrowing the legacy of the House of Lords’ landmark decision in O’Neill v Phillips.