NIGEL BOGAARS is a founding partner of Bogaars & Din, He holds an LLB (Hons) degree from the University of Buckingham.  Nigel was called to the Bar of England and Wales in 1990 and worked with a City of London law firm till 1993.  He was called to the Singapore Bar in 1994.  He commenced practice in Singapore with a large law firm in 1994 and was made a Partner there in 1996.

His practice is civil and commercial litigation and his experience as a litigator is wide-ranging having handled cases in the State Courts and High Court and cases which have gone up to the Court of Appeal.

His practice also has a special emphasis on insurance related litigation and advisory work.  In this area, Nigel handles claims involving various classes of insurance such as Public Liability, Professional Indemnity, Fidelity Guarantees, Performance Bonds, Contractors’ All-Risk, Motor Insurance and Work Injury Compensation and other construction-related claims. He also regularly advises Singapore and Malaysian insurers on drafting and structuring in relation to policy wording.  He advises on both contentious and non-contentious work. He undertakes both defence work and subrogation actions.

In a case involving marine policies, he successfully defended an insurer against a claim for commissions by an agent and successfully argued the contractual position on behalf of insurers in the reported case of JK Pte Ltd v Lonpac Insurance Berhad  [2011] SGHC 72 saving the insurers a few hundred thousand dollars.

He regularly advises clients on policy coverage and assists on conundrums such as multiple excess and defence costs clauses, limits of insurance coverage, non-reporting and limitation periods.  In a recent case, he was asked to advise on a product exclusion clause in a public liability policy which resulted in insurers denying coverage and saving on a significant payout.

Nigel has advised and represented underwriters in claims in the area of professional negligence, providing advice to professional indemnity insurers for lawyers, architects and engineers.  His practice encompasses construction related claims, acting for underwriters as well as construction professionals.  In construction-related litigation, he acted for insurers in a professional negligence claim against an architect involving a multi-million-dollar suit arising out of construction works on a conservation property.  The case involved complex engineering and architectural issues in a High Court trial lasting many months.

He has also acted for the owner of a private property damaged by MRT construction/tunnelling works.  The case was brought before the Land Transport Authority Compensation Board and involved novel issues of de-watering and damage caused by settlement of land.

He  acted for the architect in Wei Siang Design Construction Pte Ltd v Euro Assets Holdings (S) Pte Ltd [2018] SGHC 182,  a construction dispute between the owner of a conservation shophouse in the Chinatown heritage district, the main contractor and the professionals which involved the URA Conservation Guidelines.

He also handles road traffic and industrial accident claims and is regularly entrusted by clients to defend high quantum personal injury claims.  In other cases in this area, he successfully defended underwriters in a large personal injury claim where the interpretation of policy terms and the meaning of “road” under the Motor Vehicles (Third Party Risks and Compensation) Act were in issue.

He also successfully acted for the Plaintiff in the highly-publicized accident along the North South Highway involving a pile-up of 3 Lamborghini supercars.  One of the interesting issues raised in that case was whether the Motor Claims Framework (MCF) applied in accidents in Malaysia.  He recovered damages on a 100% for the client.

He regularly conducts seminars for insurance companies on all areas of insurance law.  Nigel is a member of the Law Society and the Singapore Academy of Law.  He is a Barrister of the Middle Temple, England.  He is a Commissioner for Oath and a Notary Public.