Hong Kong Case Law: Decisions & Judgments

Topic

Henderson abuse of process

Legal area

Court

26 Mar 2025

LAM HOI KIT v. LAM TIN LING LIANG KINDERGARTEN

Citation

[2025] HKDC 466
Court

District Court
Case number

DCCJ1267/2024

The appeal is dismissed and the Master’s order striking out the Plaintiff’s Writ and Statement of Claim is upheld because allowing the present proceedings after the Small Claims Tribunal judgment would be an abuse of process: Plaintiff deliberately omitted the Defendant from the SCT proceedings, thereby depriving Defendant of the opportunity to contest liability and quantum, producing manifest unfairness. Alternatively, after deducting inflated and unrecoverable items the claim falls within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Small Claims Tribunal and is therefore not maintainable in the Distri…
21 Apr 2023

BEST YEAR ENTERPRISES LTD (in liquidation) AND ANOTHER v. POWER SECURITIES CO LTD (formerly known as JUN YANG SECURITIES CO LTD) AND ANOTHER

Citation

[2023] HKCA 594
Court

Court of Appeal
Case number

CACV59/2020

The Court of Appeal held that the appellant's claims were barred by the reflective loss principle because the loss he sought to recover derived from diminution in the value of First Credit shares suffered by Best Year and EPL; that loss crystallised before he sold his interests, so a subsequent sale did not convert it into a distinct personal loss; the court was bound by Hong Kong authority (Waddington) and the nature‑of‑loss analysis required dismissal; consequently the strike‑out of his pleadings and dismissal of his claims was upheld.
14 Sept 2022

WARREN GARY LICHTENSTEIN v. ANNABELLE SARAH BOND AND ANOTHER

Citation

[2022] HKCFI 2781
Court

Court of First Instance
Case number

HCA1545/2021

The Master held it was plain and obvious the Plaintiff's claim against the 1st Defendant constituted a Henderson abuse because the central allegation of misuse of HKD13,739,168.26 arose from the same factual matrix already litigated in HCMP 489/2013, the Plaintiff failed to adduce available evidence and seek discovery in the earlier proceedings, and permitting litigation now would amount to an impermissible re-litigation and misuse of judicial resources; accordingly the claim as against the 1st Defendant was struck out.
5 Dec 2019

POWER SECURITIES CO LTD (formerly known as JUN YANG SECURITIES CO LTD) v. SIN KWOK LAM AND OTHERS

Citation

[2019] HKCFI 2920
Court

Court of First Instance
Case number

HCA1719/2018

The court struck out the counterclaim and claim because on the face of the pleaded case the losses asserted by Sin were reflective of losses suffered by Best Year and/or EPL and therefore barred by the reflective loss principle; additionally the pleaded allegations had been previously litigated or were within Sin's privity with Best Year such that res judicata/abuse of process principles applied; the 2019 Action was duplicative and therefore unsustainable.

Hong Kong Case Law

LAM HOI KIT v. LAM TIN LING LIANG KINDERGARTEN

BEST YEAR ENTERPRISES LTD (in liquidation) AND ANOTHER v. POWER SECURITIES CO LTD (formerly known as JUN YANG SECURITIES CO LTD) AND ANOTHER

WARREN GARY LICHTENSTEIN v. ANNABELLE SARAH BOND AND ANOTHER

POWER SECURITIES CO LTD (formerly known as JUN YANG SECURITIES CO LTD) v. SIN KWOK LAM AND OTHERS