TONG TIM NUI AND OTHERS v. HONG KONG HOUSING AUTHORITY
The Court exercised its discretion to refuse a costs order to the successful respondent because the respondent had acquiesced in the course taken by the trial judge and failed to appeal the original judgment, thereby encouraging the appeals; the respondent's success resulted from the Court's view of the trial...
Source-derived case information.
- Citation
- TONG TIM NUI AND OTHERS v. HONG KONG HOUSING AUTHORITY
- Parties
- Applicant (appellant): Tong Tim Nui and others; Applicant (appellant) CACV 282/98: Billy Yeung Bee Lee; Respondent: Hong Kong Housing Authority
- Court
- Court of Appeal
- Jurisdiction
- Hong Kong
- Judgment Date
- 27 September 1999
- Case Number
- CACV292/1998
- Procedural Posture
- Civil Appeal (consolidated) / Judgment on Costs (court of Appeal)
- Outcome
- No order as to costs
- Legal Topics
- Appeal, Costs Discretion, Acquiescence, Procedural Conduct
- Source Language
- et
Source-derived case record
Summary, issues, holding and outcome
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Parties
Tong Tim Nui and others
Applicant (appellant)
Billy Yeung Bee Lee
Applicant (appellant) CACV 282/98
Hong Kong Housing Authority
Respondent
Procedural Posture
Civil Appeal (consolidated) / Judgment on Costs (court of Appeal)
Legal Issues
- 1 Whether a successful respondent is entitled to costs where success results from appellate re-evaluation of the trial judge's decision rather than respondent's arguments
- 2 Whether respondent's acquiescence in the trial judge's course and failure to appeal should preclude a costs order
- 3 Whether the court should exercise its discretion to depart from the general rule that costs follow the event in exceptional circumstances
Ratio Decidendi
The Court exercised its discretion to refuse a costs order to the successful respondent because the respondent had acquiesced in the course taken by the trial judge and failed to appeal the original judgment, thereby encouraging the appeals; the respondent's success resulted from the Court's view of the trial judgment rather than from the respondent's own arguments, making it appropriate in these exceptional circumstances to make no order as to costs.
Court Disposition
No order as to costs
Orders
- No order as to the Hong Kong Housing Authority's costs of these appeals.
Full Case Text
Judgment text and source record
1 paragraphs
bjbj CACV 281, 282, 283, 287, 288, 289, 290, 291, 292, 293, 294, 295, 315, 316, 317, 318, 319, 320, 321, 322, 323, 324, 325, 326, 327, 328, 329, 330, 331, 340, 341, 342, 343, 344 and 345/1998 CACV 27 and 28/1999 (Consolidated) IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION COURT OF APPEAL CIVIL APPEAL NOS. 281, 282, 283, 287, 288, 289, 290, 291, 292, 293, 294, 295, 315, 316, 317, 318, 319, 320, 321, 322, 323, 324, 325, 326, 327, 328, 329, 330, 331, 340, 341, 342, 343, 344 and 345 OF 1998 CIVIL APPEAL NOS. 27 and 28 OF 1999 (Consolidated) (ON APPEAL FROM HCMP 114 OF 1998) IN THE MATTER of the property known as Tiu Keng Leng Cottage at Site No. 25, Section No. 7 and Tiu Keng Leng Cottage at Site No. 131, Section No. 11, Tiu Keng Leng Cottage Area, Hong Kong and IN THE MATTER of compensation payable to residents of Tiu Keng Leng under the decision of Sears, J. in High Court Miscellaneous Proceedings No. 114 of 1998 BETWEEN TONG TIM NUI and others Applicants (Appellants) and HONG KONG HOUSING AUTHORITY Respondent (Respondent) Court : Godfrey, Mayo & Rogers, JJ.A. Hearing : 27 September 1999 Judgment on costs : 27 September 1999 --------------------------------- JUDGMENT ON COSTS --------------------------------- Godfrey, J.A. : Miss Gladys Li, S.C., for the Hong Kong Housing Authority, has applied for an order for costs against the appellants, reminding us, correctly, that, as a general rule, costs follow the event and that, here, the event is that the appellants have failed and the Hong Kong Housing Authority has succeeded. But, in our opinion, the extraordinary nature of this highly unusual case dictates a different conclusion. It seems to us that the acquiescence of the Hong Kong Housing Authority in the course taken by the judge below at various stages of the proceedings before him, and the failure of the Hong Kong Housing Authority to appeal against his original judgment, might fairly be considered to have encouraged the present appeals. The success of the Hong Kong Housing Authority is solely due to the view this court took of the judge s original judgment. Its success has been achieved despite, and not because, of its own arguments. The course the Hong Kong Housing Authority has adopted in relation to these appeals has not recommended itself to this court. In these quite exceptional circumstances, we consider it proper to make no order as to the Hong Kong Housing Authority s costs of these appeals. ( Gerald Godfrey ) ( Simon Mayo ) ( Anthony Rogers ) Justice of Appeal Justice of Appeal Justice of Appeal Mr. Ben Beaumont & Mr. Sher Hon Piu (M/s. Fred Kan & Co.) for the Applicants (Appellants) in all appeals except CACV 282/98 Applicant (Appellant) in CACV 282/98, Mr. Billy Yeung Bee Lee in person Miss Gladys Li, S.C. & Mr. Peter Ng (M/s. Simmons & Simmons) for the Respondent (Respondent) in all appeals - PAGE - @\\SSLAI\HP LaserJet 4 Plus Ne02: winspool HP LaserJet 4 Plus \\SSLAI\HP LaserJet 4 Plus \\SSLAI\HP LaserJet 4 Plus IN THE COURT OF APPEAL 199, No. user Normal Microsoft Word 8.0 user IN THE COURT OF APPEAL 199, No. Title _PID_GUID 9-992 Microsoft Word Document MSWordDoc Word.Document.8