PUBLISHED ONOctober 08, 2025 12:43 PMBYSean LerNational Trade Unions Congress (NTUC) chief Ng Chee Meng has expressed "deep concern" over a civil suit where the district court expressed its "unmixed dissatisfaction" at Income Insurance over its "wholly unreasonable behaviour".
The court expressed its disappointment at how Income Insurance had handled claims by the family of a man who died five years after a traffic accident.
In a Facebook post on Wednesday (Oct 8), Ng extended his sympathy to the late Ko Wah.
"I wish to express my sincere sympathy to the family of the late Mr Ko Wah for the grief and the emotional distress they have had to go through in the past year," said the labour chief.
Ko was left bedridden and mentally incapacitated after he was knocked down by a van at the basement carpark of an industrial building in Toh Guan Road East in June 2019. He died in October 2024.
Ko's son sued the driver of the van and the building contractor to seek damages for his father's disabilities, loss of income and medical and other related expenses in 2021.
NTUC Income, which became known as Income Insurance in September 2022 after a corporatisation exercise, conducted the defence.
In his written judgement published on Oct 1, Deputy Registrar Kim Bum Soo presented "the court's unmixed dissatisfaction with the manner in which NTUC Income has conducted itself", adding that its behaviour was "wholly unreasonable".
The deputy registrar also called the insurer's objection to paying for some of the medical expenses "callous and meritless".
He also found it inexplicable that Income Insurance refused to pay for ambulance-related expenses totalling $1,992.
"It boggled the mind why NTUC Income would have taken such an unyielding stance over something so obviously necessary," the Straits Times reported the deputy registrar as saying.
Ng, who is the MP for Jalan Kayu SMC, said that NTUC holds itself and those within the labour movement family "to a high standard of fairness, integrity and compassion".
"I am heartened that Income has accepted the court's judgement upon reflection, and recognised that they could have done better.
"While I appreciate that Income will have to exercise rigour and due process, Income must balance such matters with greater empathy and compassion," added Ng.