POON TING CHAU v. WONG KWOK CHI AND ANOTHER

bjbj% HCMP5314/2002 IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE MISCELLANEOUS PROCEEDINGS NO.5314 OF 2002 --------------------------- BETWEEN POON TING CHAU Plaintiff and WONG KWOK CHI 1st Defendant YAM WING HAN AGNES 2nd Defendant --------------------------- Before : Hon Waung J in Chambers Date of Hearing : 26 November 2004 Date of Judgment : 26 November 2004 --------------------------- J U D G M E N T --------------------------- AUTONUMOUT On 27 September 2004, I gave a judgment in relation to an application for joinder and I also directed that there should be a hearing for directions today. AUTONUMOUT Before me today, there are two applications by Mr Poon against his wife Agnes Yam and his brother law Wong Kwok Chi, whom I will call the 2nd defendant and the 1st defendant respectively. He sought specific discovery in relation to large number of documents going back to 1988. It was explained to me during the hearing, that the reality of the transaction was not quite what I had said in my judgment of 27 September, but is as follows : that the plaintiff transferred the property to the 2nd defendant in 1987. Then in 1988, the 2nd defendant transferred the property to Mr Wong, the 1st defendant. Then in the year 2002, the 1st defendant transferred the property back to the 2nd defendant. AUTONUMOUT At the time when this proceedings was brought by Mr Poon, the property was already registered in the name of the 2nd defendant, not registered in the name of the 1st defendant. Therefore, it seems to me that it is a very strange complaint by the plaintiff against the 1st defendant who is no longer registered as the owner of the property. There may be all kinds of unhappiness by Mr Poon against the involvement of Mr Wong and one of the matters that he mentioned at the hearing is that the property is now subject to a trust and that he cannot sell the property and he had been so advised by lawyers. AUTONUMOUT I have the grievous doubt that, as the 1st defendant is no longer registered as the owner of the property, that if the 2nd defendant wanted, why the property could not be sold by her and the plaintiff in the open market without any problem. But be that as it may, and having regard to my serious doubt as to the viability of this proceedings brought by Mr Poon against the 1st defendant and the 2nd defendant, I direct that this proceedings should be converted into proceedings by way of writ of summons : by it being converted to writ; the amended writ should show the 1st defendant as Mr Wong and the 2nd defendant as the wife; that the plaintiff must serve on the 1st and 2nd defendants within 28 days a proper Statement of Claim; the 1st and 2nd defendants to serve their defence to the Statement of Claim within 28 days of receipt of the Statement of Claim; the plaintiff to serve reply within 28 days after the respective defence of the 1st and 2nd defendants; the Summons of Discovery is adjourned sine die and not to be restored until after discovery had taken place; costs of today be costs in the cause. (William Waung) Judge of the Court of First Instance, High Court Mr Poon Ting Chau, 1st Plaintiff in person Ms Anne Hui of Messrs Wong Hui & Co., for the 1st Defendant Mr Edwin Lee of Messrs Lau Lee & Tang, for the 2nd Defendant PAGE - PAGE A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V 1udk 1udk H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V 8"t" (#p# (#p# (#p# (#p# &`#$ $O[0&M $O[0 & 6" CACV Jeannie MY MokSo Judiciary Microsoft Word 9.0 Judiciary CACV Title Microsoft Word Document MSWordDoc Word.Document.8