Hong Kong Case Law: Decisions & Judgments

Topic

Arbitration clause

Legal area

Court

24 Dec 2025

RE SHIFT ENERGY ASIA LTD

Citation

[2025] HKCFI 6415
Court

Court of First Instance
Case number

HCCW405/2025

The petition was dismissed because the company established a bona fide dispute on substantial grounds that the Waiver Deed (on its proper construction and given agency arguments) may have waived the petition debt, and because there was at least an arguable binding arbitration agreement with genuine intention to arbitrate; applying the multi-factorial discretion in Simplicity & Vogue and Guy Lam, the court declined to exercise its winding-up jurisdiction and dismissed the petition rather than stay it pending prolonged jurisdictional litigation in arbitration.
20 Aug 2025

KAT YUE CONSTRUCTION ENGINEERING LTD v. FAI LEE CONSTRUCTION (H.K.) LTD

Citation

[2025] HKCFI 3298
Court

Court of First Instance
Case number

HCA2494/2024

Clause 1.6 of the Settlement Agreement expressly disapplies clause 12 of the original Contract so the arbitration clause does not apply to disputes arising under the Settlement Agreement; the Plaintiff's claim in substance arises under the Settlement Agreement (with rights reserved under clause 1.5) and therefore the dispute is not within the ambit of the Contract's arbitration clause; the Defendant is not entitled to a stay under s20 and the stay application is dismissed.
3 Jan 2025

WANG & LEE CONTRACTING LTD v. YOUNG KWONG PUI trading as IN TECH ENGINEERING

Citation

[2025] HKDC 66
Court

District Court
Case number

DCMP729/2024

The arbitration clause covers the present disputes because the defendant's defences and set-off claim are contractual and inextricably linked to the underlying written Agreement; adjudication of the plaintiff's claims necessarily requires resolving those contractual issues and therefore the action must be stayed and referred to arbitration.
11 Dec 2024

CHEUNG SAU MEI AND OTHERS v. ONE HERITAGE TRUST LTD

Citation

[2024] HKCFI 3587
Court

Court of First Instance
Case number

HCA986/2024

Because the defendant did not file a defence the facts pleaded in the statement of claim were treated as admitted; those facts established that the purported trust arrangements were a device to procure funds and a constructive trust arose on transfer. The trust deeds were therefore rescinded as sham and their arbitration clause fell with them; accordingly the court could and should grant the declaratory relief and judgment in default without a trial and assess costs summarily.
4 Jan 2024

RICHWAY LEGEND LTD v. HOUTAI INVESTMENT HOLDINGS LTD

Citation

[2024] HKCFI 71
Court

Court of First Instance
Case number

HCA243/2022

The stay application was dismissed because the dispute over passing of title under the SPA is a discrete contractual issue between HT and Richway not covered by the arbitration clause in the Sub-subcontract, there is no mandatory stay under s20 as between HT and Richway, and proceeding to trial will resolve rights between those parties without prejudice or risk of inconsistent judgments.
7 Dec 2023

TRIBEST INVESTMENTS LTD v. THE INCORPORATED OWNERS OF SOUTH EAST MANSION (NO. 77 KIMBERLEY ROAD)

Citation

[2023] HKDC 1713
Court

District Court
Case number

DCCJ2021/2022

Costs were to be allowed on an indemnity basis but reduced where specific items or hours were clearly excessive or unreasonably incurred; applying a broad‑brush summary assessment the court fixed the solicitor hourly rate at HK$2,800 and the legal executive at HK$1,000, disallowed or reduced excessive time entries across Parts B–F and assessed the 2nd Defendant's recoverable costs at HK$171,892.
30 Nov 2023

CL MEDICAL INVESTMENTS LTD v. LAVONNE LEE (ALSO KNOWN AS LEE RAYER LAVONNE)

Citation

[2023] HKCFI 3078
Court

Court of First Instance
Case number

HCA786/2022

The Deed of Guarantee, being the agreement most closely connected to the plaintiff's claim against the guarantor, contained a non-exclusive submission to the jurisdiction of the Hong Kong courts and therefore governed disputes against the guarantor; accordingly the arbitration clause in the Loan Facility Agreement did not require a stay of the court proceedings against the guarantor.
30 May 2023

RE SIMPLICITY & VOGUE RETAILING (HK) CO LTD

Citation

[2023] HKCFI 1443
Court

Court of First Instance
Case number

HCCW457/2022

Winding-up order was appropriate because the Company failed to comply with rule 32(1) and the court's conditional leave requiring payment of the petitioning debt into court; the discharge argument based on variation was rejected because the Guarantee expressly excluded discharge by variation; the arbitration clauses did not bar the winding-up where the Company had taken no steps to commence arbitration and its asserted defenses lacked credible supporting evidence and amounted to delay or abuse of process.
26 Oct 2022

TALENT MARK DEVELOPMENT LTD v. KWAN ON U TECH JOINT VENTURE AND OTHERS

Citation

[2022] HKCFI 3277
Court

Court of First Instance
Case number

HCA1277/2021

The defendants failed to establish a cogent prima facie case that an arbitration agreement existed: the evidence that clause 19 of the GCC was incorporated is speculative, there is no direct evidence from the key witness (Ken Chan), the draft Agreement was unsigned and not shown to bind the parties, and therefore the stay application was dismissed.
28 Jul 2022

EMPEROR UA CINEMAS LTD v. LARK CHINA CINEMA INVESTMENTS LTD

Citation

[2022] HKCFI 2316
Court

Court of First Instance
Case number

HCMP929/2022

There was a bona fide substantial dispute whether the debt was repayable on demand because the JVA contained provisions requiring mutual approval for repayments/termination of loans and mandated negotiation then arbitration; presenting a winding-up petition in those circumstances would be an abuse of process, therefore an injunction restraining presentation of the petition was justified.