Lock Han Chng Jonathan v. Goh Jessiline was a court case decided in the Court of Appeal of Singapore on 31 December 2007 which concerned the validity of settlements made at the Primary Dispute Resolution Centre (PDRC) of the Subordinate Courts of Singapore. The case was highly publicized in the media for the absurdities in the legal process leading up to the appeal, which ballooned from a compensation payment of S$187.50 to over $120,000 in legal costs over a minor vehicle accident. In particular, one of the appeal judges, Justice V. K. Rajah, expressed to one of the lawyers representing Goh's insurers NTUC Income that "you used a sledgehammer to crack a nut, when all you needed was a nutcracker." The court decided that all parties were to bear their own legal costs except appellant Jonathan Lock, who could not be billed by his ex-lawyer Andrew Hanam without the court's permission and who was to have his legal costs for the appeal paid by NTUC Income. The Chief Justice also directed the Law Society of Singapore to investigate Hanam's professional conduct. The court upheld the PDRC's decisions in dispute resolution to be binding in subsequent court orders. Background to the case In November 2004, Jonathan Lock's second-hand BMW motorcycle was involved in a minor collision with Jessiline Goh's Toyota car. Both vehicles were insured by NTUC Income. Following the dispute resolution process in the Primary Dispute Resolution Centre, Lock was awarded compensation of S$187.50 plus legal costs while Goh was ordered to pay about $1,200 in costs. Lock's then lawyer Andrew Hanam applied for a writ of summons and seizure to be issued against Goh. Due to disagreements over S$60 (approx. US$40) in Lock's legal costs, Madan Asomull, the lawyer for Goh's insurer challenged the order on three occasions in the High Court on the basis that the decisions made by PDRC were unenforceable since it was not a court of law. On the third attempt, Justice Lai Siu Chiu agreed with Asomull and ordered Lock to pay S$45,000 in costs to NTUC Income (brought down from an initial S$63,000 after appeal). Lock, who was unaware of the proceedings following the PDRC resolution, suddenly found himself having to pay the costs awarded against him. His plight was publicized in the media when the writ of summons and seizure was reversed against him, which made him liable to significant personal losses.