The Singapore Rules of Court have been amended to include the possibly of adverse cost consequences regarding a party's conduct in relation to mediation or ADR. Order 59 Rule 5(c) of the Rules of Court provides that when the Court is exercising its discretion as to costs, it shall take into account "the parties' conduct in relation to any attempt at resolving the cause or matter by mediation or any other means of dispute resolution". There has not been established case law examining the impact of this amendment as of yet, but this amendment seems to suggest that there may now be a push in Singapore to encourage ADR, particularly mediation.
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