Hong Kong Case Law: Decisions & Judgments

Topic

Disclosure of court documents

Legal area

Court

10 Jan 2025

CCMJ v. SSM formerly known as SKL

Citation

[2025] HKFC 13
Court

Family Court
Case number

FCMP67/2010

Leave under Rule 121 was refused because the applicant's proposed use of the documents was premature and not sufficiently relevant to the interpleader relief as currently framed; the necessary balancing of competing interests could not be undertaken in the absence of pleadings or an identified interpleader issue to be tried, and the legality of the Legal Charges must be determined in a substantive trial or properly commenced civil proceedings where the burden to prove invalidity rests with the challenger.
29 Sept 2022

H v. W

Citation

[2022] HKFC 212
Court

Family Court
Case number

FCMC8332/2017

The court will grant leave to provide specified court documents to the Police Department and Department of Justice where the documents are relevant to an ongoing criminal investigation, subject to limiting disclosure to avoid overwhelming the investigators; court granted leave for specific documents and pages and refused leave where documents were irrelevant or not court documents.
31 Dec 2019

CC, YL v. C, CSR

Citation

[2019] HKFC 329
Court

Family Court
Case number

FCMC15718/2018

Leave was granted to the petitioner to disclose the respondent's Form E and two sets of Answers to the High Court bankruptcy proceedings, subject to redaction and a process for agreement on redactions, because the respondent had not clearly explained or provided company financial information and had been unwilling to volunteer that material to the Official Receiver; the court found the balance of interests and proportionality favoured disclosure limited to financial matters to avoid the bankruptcy court being misled while protecting other private information.
13 Jan 2017

AA AND ANOTHER v. THE SECURITIES AND FUTURES COMMISSION

Citation

AA AND ANOTHER v. THE SECURITIES AND FUTURES COMMISSION
Court

Court of First Instance
Case number

HCAL41/2016

The Court allowed the Secretary for Justice to join as an intervener limited to the constitutional challenge to section 181 SFO and made directions for filing and inspection, finding the public interest and SJ's legitimate role outweighed delay and prejudice. The Court refused the SFC's application for retrospective leave to provide court documents to the DoJ, concluding it was not appropriate to regularise the prior disclosure despite it being inadvertent; instead SFC was ordered to pay the applicants' costs in relation to that application.
7 Jul 2015

DJ (also known as DJJ) v. LRM (also known as LRMJ)

Citation

DJ (also known as DJJ) v. LRM (also known as LRMJ)
Court

Family Court
Case number

FCMC8507/2013

Leave was granted under MCR r121(2) and the court's inherent jurisdiction to permit the petitioner to use, produce and refer to specified matrimonial documents for representations to the DPP and to defend the criminal charge, and the petitioner was released from any implied undertaking in relation to those documents, because the public interest in a fair criminal defence and the documents' likely utility outweighed privacy considerations and no prejudice to the respondent was shown.
29 Jul 2013

SECRETARY FOR JUSTICE v. FTCW AND OTHERS

Citation

SECRETARY FOR JUSTICE v. FTCW AND OTHERS
Court

Court of Appeal
Case number

CACV101/2013

The Court held that the Disclosure Appeals must be heard in open court; Ng J's orders granting access and leave to confer with prosecutorial and investigative authorities are matters of public interest and do not justify hearing the appeals in camera. A judicial referral does not automatically carry special weight to warrant closed proceedings and the independence of police and DPP in deciding whether to investigate must be preserved.

Hong Kong Case Law

CCMJ v. SSM formerly known as SKL

H v. W

CC, YL v. C, CSR

AA AND ANOTHER v. THE SECURITIES AND FUTURES COMMISSION

DJ (also known as DJJ) v. LRM (also known as LRMJ)

SECRETARY FOR JUSTICE v. FTCW AND OTHERS