Hong Kong Case Law: Decisions & Judgments | LexChat

Topic

Dependency multiplier

Legal area

Court

22 Jan 1981

YEUNG WING v. V.S.L. ENGINEERS (HONG KONG) LTD AND ANOTHER

Citation

YEUNG WING v. V.S.L. ENGINEERS (HONG KONG) LTD AND ANOTHER
Court

Court of First Instance
Case number

HCA3072/1979

Section 20(1) preserves the deceased's right to claim damages for lost years; section 20(2)(b) excludes only gains or losses to the estate consequent on death that arise independently of the preserved cause of action and does not bar recovery of lost years. Accordingly the estate is entitled to damages for lost years; the conventional award for loss of expectation of life is increased to HKD15000; dependency and lost years calculated using the stated multipliers and conventional 10% surplus for lost years.
31 Jan 1980

CHU CHE PING AND OTHERS v. WONG KOU-SHEE AND ANOTHER

Citation

CHU CHE PING AND OTHERS v. WONG KOU-SHEE AND ANOTHER
Court

Court of First Instance
Case number

HCA3927/1978

On the balance of credible eyewitness evidence the first defendant drove through the pedestrian light against the deceased and, given the established defective foot-brake which he knew or ought to have known and failed to maintain, his negligence caused the death; the second defendant was vicariously and personally liable for inadequate maintenance; damages were assessed with a 14-year multiplier, public assistance set off against husband's loss, pre-trial amounts awarded interest at 4% (half rate) and no interest awarded on post-trial economic loss.