Lee Chee Wei v Tan Hor Peow Victor

On a purchaser's refusal to complete a share sale, the Court of Appeal drew the conceptual distinction between a liquidated damages clause (an agreed pre-estimate of loss) and a deposit (an earnest for performance recoverable independently of proof of loss), and held that a court may order damages to be assessed even where the plaintiff failed strictly to plead and prove quantum, so that a substantial claim is not defeated by a pleading or evidential lacuna.