Hong Kong Case Law: Decisions & Judgments

Topic

Dependency calculation

Legal area

Court

28 Oct 2016

LEIZEL DALERE RAMONES, THE ADMINISTRATRIX OF THE ESTATE OF REBECCA DALERE RAMONES, DECEASED, SUING ON BEHALF OF AND FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE ESTATE OF REBECCA DALERE RAMONES, DECEASED AND ON BEHALF OF AND FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE DEPENDANTS OF REBECCA DALERE RAMONES, DECEASED v. LEE KUT TUNG

Citation

LEIZEL DALERE RAMONES, THE ADMINISTRATRIX OF THE ESTATE OF REBECCA DALERE RAMONES, DECEASED, SUING ON BEHALF OF AND FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE ESTATE OF REBECCA DALERE RAMONES, DECEASED AND ON BEHALF OF AND FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE DEPENDANTS OF REBECCA DALERE RAMONES, DECEASED v. LEE KUT TUNG
Court

Court of First Instance
Case number

HCPI1264/2015

Defendant was entitled to an order that costs (other than costs of and occasioned by this application) be taxed on the District Court scale because the defendant gave prior warning and the court found, on the evidence available at commencement and up to acceptance of the sanctioned payment, there was no reasonable prospect of an award exceeding District Court jurisdiction; plaintiff's evidence of full remittance was inadequate and conventional dependency assumptions applied.
18 Dec 2007

LO KAM MUI v. O PUI YIU

Citation

LO KAM MUI v. O PUI YIU
Court

District Court
Case number

DCPI1813/2007

Court accepted plaintiff's factual case on earnings and dependency, adopted multipliers of 14 for the mother and 2 for the younger brother for post-trial loss, awarded pre-trial dependency HK$106,897 and post-trial dependency HK$481,320, rejected claim for pain and suffering due to probable prolonged unconsciousness, allowed HK$100,000 for loss of accumulation of wealth based on deceased's frugal and responsible disposition, denied award for gratuity services, allowed agreed bereavement HK$150,000 and funeral HK$50,500, and reduced the total damages by 50% for liability.
1 Aug 2002

CHAN OI YING v. KWONG WAI HUNG AND ANOTHER

Citation

CHAN OI YING v. KWONG WAI HUNG AND ANOTHER
Court

Court of First Instance
Case number

HCPI448/1998

Court accepted evidence supporting HK$13,000 pre-accident earnings (daily casual rate corroboration and Form 2 attendance), apportioned monthly dependency (HK$6,500 in Hong Kong, HK$2,500 for dependants in Mainland China), adopted multiplier of 11 for future dependency, disallowed funeral expense claim because HK$30,000 was paid by defendant and admitted to have been used for funeral, awarded HK$100,000 for loss of accumulation, applied interest rates as specified, reduced award by 20% contributory negligence and deducted prior ECC payment, resulting in judgment for plaintiff of HK$471,036 pa…
31 Jul 2002

Mak Kwan Tai v. Fung Kam Shing and Others

Citation

Mak Kwan Tai v. Fung Kam Shing and Others
Court

Court of First Instance
Case number

HCPI184/2001

With defendants absent and on the evidential record the court adopted an 8% annual notional income increment where supported by pre-death increases, applied appropriate multiplicands and age-based multipliers to calculate pre-trial and post-trial dependency, awarded loss of accumulation of wealth on demonstrated/minimum saving bases (applying Lam Pak Chiu), and allowed bereavement, funeral expenses, interest and costs accordingly.
4 Jun 2001

YEUNG YUET MEI v. WONG YAU MING AND ANOTHER

Citation

YEUNG YUET MEI v. WONG YAU MING AND ANOTHER
Court

Court of First Instance
Case number

HCPI77/1998

The court accepted that the deceased's death resulted from negligent assembly/maintenance of the machine and that the 1st defendant was liable (admitted); it accepted the plaintiff's dependency calculations using 10% p.a. income growth to 1998 and a multiplier of 14 for future dependency, awarded specific sums for accrued and future dependency, bereavement, loss of accumulation and funeral expenses, granted interest on specified amounts and ordered costs against the 1st defendant; action against the 2nd defendant was stayed with liberty to restore.
20 Sept 2000

Chung Sze Mui v. Dragages et Travaux Publics and Penta-Ocean Construction Co. Ltd.

Citation

Chung Sze Mui v. Dragages et Travaux Publics and Penta-Ocean Construction Co. Ltd.
Court

Court of First Instance
Case number

HCPI590/1999

Court accepted plaintiff's income basis (average Jan–May 1996 producing monthly HKD 12,704, with notional assessment income HKD 15,562 and median HKD 14,133), held grandson was a dependant, applied dependency percentages (wife 26.3%, grandson 33%, mother 12%), adopted a multiplier of 5 for all dependants, allowed funeral expenses and bereavement, deducted employees' compensation of HKD 504,531.58, and awarded interest as specified.
2 Oct 1989

WAI KANG KWAN AND ANOTHER v. WONG WING HONG AND ANOTHER

Citation

WAI KANG KWAN AND ANOTHER v. WONG WING HONG AND ANOTHER
Court

Court of First Instance
Case number

HCA1803/1989

The court rejected the defendant's pro rata entitlement approach and based dependency awards on actual and probable contributions of the deceased (accepting $50 to each brother and $1,330 to parents at death, escalated to trial and post-trial figures using agreed multipliers and observed wage growth); the court refused a speculative award for accumulation of wealth but awarded an additional conservative multiplier of three for continued parental support on the evidence of probable post-multiplier contributions.
21 Sept 1984

LAI KUN v. CHAU CHI CHEUNG AND OTHERS

Citation

LAI KUN v. CHAU CHI CHEUNG AND OTHERS
Court

Court of First Instance
Case number

HCA2379/1981

Master Clay held that the widow was not a wife for statutory purposes and the illegitimate children were dependants under the Fatal Accidents Ordinance; accepted the Mantell J method of calculating lost years (dependency stream plus notional savings at 10% of income); adjusted proposed multipliers downward to 10, 11 and 15; awarded specific sums for children under FAO and aggregate under LARCO including funeral expenses and interest; ordered costs against the defendant.
11 Aug 1979

TSE WONG HING v. HAK KAN NAVIGATION CO, SA

Citation

TSE WONG HING v. HAK KAN NAVIGATION CO, SA
Court

Court of First Instance
Case number

HCAJ25/1978

Court accepted the plaintiff's factual findings on salary and dependency, adopted the Cookson v. Knowles methodology, applied a multiplier of 10 to the mean dependency figure of HK$2,100 to compute future and past losses, assessed HK$307,170 under the Fatal Accidents Ordinance (with a HK$10,000 conventional award to merge), apportioned 75% of the award to certain principal dependants with remaining 25% shared between two younger dependants at 60/40, ordered payment directions, awarded interest at 9% from 21 February 1978 to judgment and granted costs to the plaintiff with counsel's certificat…
14 Jul 1977

TING CHEUNG SHING v. NG TING FUNG AND OTHERS

Citation

TING CHEUNG SHING v. NG TING FUNG AND OTHERS
Court

Court of First Instance
Case number

HCA58/1977

The court accepted the plaintiff's evidence of $800 monthly contribution less $150 personal allowance, fixed net dependency at $650 per month, applied a multiplier of 7 (following authority and the deceased's demonstrated commitment to support his parents), yielding $54,600 under the Fatal Accidents Ordinance; apportioned that sum between the dependants, allowed funeral expenses of $1,630 on receipts, assessed $10,000 under the Law Amendment and Reform (Consolidation) Ordinance to merge with the Fatal Accidents award, ordered interest (8% p.a. on general damages from service of writ and 4% p.…