SINGAPORE: A lawyer, who was found in 2024 to have overcharged a couple for handling a lawsuit over their son’s death, has had his bills found to be “plainly excessive” again in a separate case involving another client.
Vijay Kumar Rai of Arbiters Inc Law Corporation had billed this client $108,225 in fees for work done over a seven-month period in 2023 before the trial even started.
The amount was slashed to $34,000 by District Judge Chiah Kok Khun, after the client asked the courts to assess the bills.
In his written judgment on Dec 22, 2025, the district judge cited the findings of a High Court judge, who had said at an earlier stage of the bill dispute that the fees claimed by Rai were excessive.
Arbiters has since filed an appeal to the High Court against Judge Chiah’s decision.
In December 2024, the Appellate Division of the High Court had found that Rai overcharged a couple who engaged him to file a negligence suit over the suicide of their 31-year-old son.
The couple had dropped their lawyers and settled the case on their own for $330,000. After the settlement, Arbiters sued the couple to press for payment of bills amounting to about $370,000. The bill was reduced to $87,000 by the Appellate Division of the High Court in December 2024.
The three-judge court said the costs claimed by Rai were so “plainly excessive as to amount to overcharging”.
