Condo chairman called managing agent a ‘joker’ in Facebook posts, ordered to pay $100k damages

District Judge Chiah Kok Khun on Sept 25 found that the condo chairman had defamed CWL Facilities Management and its executive director.

ST PHOTO: KUA CHEE SIONG

Published Sep 28, 2026, 05:55 PM

Updated Sep 28, 2026, 08:15 PM

A condo chairman, Tan Eng Huat, was ordered to pay $100,000 in damages for defaming managing agent CWL and its director through Facebook posts and emails.

The court found Tan's claims of dishonesty and unprofessionalism defamatory, rejecting his defences of fair comment and justification.

Tan's motion to remove CWL failed at the AGM, but the judge noted CWL's termination was not directly due to Tan's posts and criticised Tan's poor legal defence approach.

SINGAPORE – A condo council chairman who campaigned to remove his estate’s managing agent was ordered to pay $100,000 in damages after repeatedly accusing the company online of being “unprofessional” and a “joker”.

District Judge Chiah Kok Khun on Sept 25 found that chairman Tan Eng Huat had defamed CWL Facilities Management and its executive director, Derek Lit Wai Choy, through a series of Facebook posts and an e-mail circulated to residents and the Building and Construction Authority (BCA).

The judge awarded general damages of $40,000 each to CWL and Lit, as well as aggravated damages of $10,000 each, taking the total awarded to $100,000.

The dispute arose from Bellewoods, an executive condominium development in Woodlands. CWL had been appointed the property’s managing agent in May 2020, while Tan was chairman of the estate’s fifth management council. CWL’s appointment ended in January 2024.

The case centred on posts that Tan made in September and October 2023 on a Facebook page called “Home @ Bellewoods”, which had almost 600 members consisting of condo owners at the time.

The posts were made ahead of Bellewoods’ sixth annual general meeting (AGM), where Tan was seeking support for a private motion involving the termination of the existing managing agent and the appointment of a new one.

In one post, he said the managing agent would “try to rebuff” his motion and “deprive us from our rights of voting”.

In another, he accused Lit of misleading residents by providing “professional advice” on whether his motion complied with the law.

Tan later wrote: “Why waste time on this type of MA (managing agent), just vote them out?”

In a post on Oct 10, 2023, he wrote: “This MA is a joker. We are wasting our money and paying for nothing.”

Tan also sent an e-mail to various recipients, copying the BCA, accusing CWL of being “very unprofessional” and saying it should resign after “creating so much problem”.

CWL and Lit sued for defamation, arguing that the statements suggested they were dishonest, deceptive, unprofessional and involved in illegal conduct.

Judge Chiah found that the posts were defamatory because of the meaning readers would take from them in the context of the dispute.

The readers of the Facebook page were not outsiders, the judge said. They were residents who would have attended general meetings, known about the issues involving the managing agent and been aware of the role CWL played in running the estate.

“The offending words in context and in their natural and ordinary meaning are capable of (being) understood by the (condo owners) to mean that the claimants were dishonest, fraudulent or deceptive, that the claimants were unprofessional, and that the claimants were engaged in illegal conduct or acts,” the judge said in his written decision. “I therefore find that the offending words are defamatory of the claimants.”

The judge also noted that the posts had been published to third parties.

Tan had posted the comments on the Facebook page, making them available to residents. There were also “likes” and comments on the posts.

Tan argued in court that his comments were justified and were fair comment on matters concerning the condominium. He also argued that he had an interest in communicating concerns to other residents. The judge rejected these arguments.

On Tan’s defence of fair comment, Judge Chiah said the Facebook posts were not merely expressions of opinion, but contained assertions of fact.

“On plain reading, they contain assertions of fact, not comments,” he said.

He added that Tan did not make clear that the statements were his opinions rather than factual claims.

The judge also rejected Tan’s defence of justification, finding that he had not shown that the allegations were true in substance and in fact.

At Bellewoods’ sixth AGM on Oct 28, 2023, Tan’s private motion was defeated, with 62 per cent of residents voting against it.

CWL was terminated as the managing agent in November 2023.

However, Judge Chiah said CWL had not proved that its termination was a direct consequence of Tan’s publications, and rejected its claim for special damages.

In assessing damages, the judge said the relevant factors included the seriousness of the allegations, the extent of publication, the defendant’s conduct and whether there was an apology or retraction.

He found that Tan’s failure to apologise or retract the posts, together with his improper motive in seeking to remove CWL, justified an award of aggravated damages.

The judge also criticised Tan’s approach in defending the defamation claim.

“The defendant has raised the gamut of defences to a claim of defamation. None of them are made out,” the judge said.

“(The) approach of defending a defamation claim by perfunctorily running through the gamut of all the elements of the tort of defamation and its defences is prolix, inefficient and indolent,” he noted.

“Such a blunderbuss approach in litigation does not serve the interests of the parties. It only results in time and costs wasting.”

地方法官谢国坤于9月25日裁定，该公寓主席诽谤了CWL设施管理公司及其执行董事。

《海峡时报》摄影：郭志雄

发布于 2026 年 9 月 28 日下午 5:55

更新于2026年9月28日晚上8:15

公寓主席陈英发因在 Facebook 上发帖和发邮件诽谤物业管理公司 CWL 及其董事，被勒令支付 10 万美元的赔偿金。

法院认定谭先生关于他人不诚实和不专业的说法构成诽谤，驳回了他提出的合理评论和正当理由的辩护。

Tan 要求罢免 CWL 的动议在年度股东大会上被否决，但法官指出 CWL 的解雇并非直接由于 Tan 的帖子，并批评了 Tan 糟糕的法律辩护策略。

新加坡——一名公寓委员会主席发起运动，要求撤换其所在公寓的物业管理公司，并多次在网上指责该公司“不专业”和“是个笑话”，结果被勒令支付 10 万美元的赔偿金。

地方法官谢国坤于 9 月 25 日裁定，主席陈永发通过一系列 Facebook 帖子和一封发给居民和建设局 (BCA) 的电子邮件，诽谤了 CWL 设施管理公司及其执行董事李伟才。

法官判给 CWL 和 Lit 各 4 万美元的一般损害赔偿金，以及各 1 万美元的加重损害赔偿金，总计判给 10 万美元。

这场纠纷源于兀兰的贝尔伍兹（Bellewoods）高级公寓项目。CWL于2020年5月被任命为该项目的物业管理公司，而谭先生则是该物业第五届管理委员会的主席。CWL的任期于2024年1月结束。

该案的焦点是 Tan 在 2023 年 9 月和 10 月在名为“Home @ Bellewoods”的 Facebook 页面上发布的帖子，该页面当时有近 600 名成员，均为公寓业主。

这些帖子是在 Bellewoods 第六届年度股东大会 (AGM) 之前发布的，当时 Tan 正在寻求支持一项私人动议，该动议涉及终止现有管理代理并任命新的管理代理。

他在一篇帖子中表示，物业管理公司将“试图驳回”他的动议，并“剥夺我们的投票权”。

在另一起事件中，他指责 Lit 向居民提供“专业建议”，误导他们，让他们误以为 Lit 的动议符合法律规定。

Tan后来写道：“为什么要在这种类型的物业管理公司上浪费时间，直接投票把他们赶下台不就好了吗？”

他在2023年10月10日的一篇帖子中写道：“这个MA简直是个笑话。我们白白浪费钱，什么都没得到。”

Tan 还向多个收件人发送了一封电子邮件，抄送给了 BCA，指责 CWL “非常不专业”，并表示该公司在“制造了这么多问题”后应该辞职。

CWL 和 Lit 提起诽谤诉讼，认为这些言论暗示他们不诚实、有欺骗性、不专业，并且参与了非法行为。

法官 Chiah 认为，这些帖子具有诽谤性，因为读者会根据争议的上下文来理解这些帖子的含义。

法官表示，该Facebook页面的读者并非外人，而是会参加业主大会的居民，他们了解物业管理公司涉及的问题，也清楚CWL在物业管理中所扮演的角色。

法官在书面判决中表示：“根据上下文及其自然和通常含义，这些冒犯性言辞可以被（公寓业主）理解为原告不诚实、欺诈或欺骗，原告不专业，以及原告从事非法行为。因此，我认定这些冒犯性言辞构成对原告的诽谤。”

法官还指出，这些帖子已被发布给第三方。

谭先生将这些评论发布在了脸书页面上，供居民查看。这些帖子也获得了点赞和评论。

谭先生在法庭上辩称，他的评论合情合理，是对公寓相关事宜的公正评论。他还辩称，他有责任将自己的担忧传达给其他住户。法官驳回了这些辩解。

针对谭某提出的合理评论辩护，法官谢表示，这些脸书帖子不仅仅是意见的表达，还包含事实的陈述。

他说：“从字面上看，它们包含的是事实陈述，而不是评论。”

他还补充说，谭并没有明确说明这些言论是他的观点，而不是事实陈述。

法官还驳回了谭的辩护理由，认为他没有证明这些指控在实质上和事实上都是真实的。

在 2023 年 10 月 28 日举行的 Bellewoods 第六届年度股东大会上，Tan 的私人动议被否决，62% 的居民投了反对票。

CWL 于 2023 年 11 月被终止管理代理资格。

然而，法官 Chiah 表示，CWL 未能证明其终止合作是 Tan 发表文章的直接后果，因此驳回了其特殊损害赔偿请求。

在评估损害赔偿时，法官表示，相关因素包括指控的严重性、发布范围、被告的行为以及是否有道歉或撤回声明。

他认为，谭某没有道歉或撤回帖子，加上他试图移除 CWL 的动机不正当，因此有理由判处加重赔偿。

法官还批评了谭在应对诽谤指控时的做法。

“被告针对诽谤指控提出了各种各样的抗辩理由，但没有一项成立。”法官说道。

他指出：“（这种）敷衍了事地逐条列举诽谤侵权行为的所有要素及其抗辩理由来辩护诽谤诉讼的做法是冗长、低效且懒散的。”

“这种草率的诉讼方式不符合各方利益，只会浪费时间和金钱。”