Hong Kong Case Law: Decisions & Judgments

Topic

Remoteness

Legal area

Court

23 Dec 2025

CHAN HUI MAY KIU 對 CHING WING FAT及另一人

Citation

[2025] HKCFI 6428
Court

Court of First Instance
Case number

HCPI1394/2016

First defendant (Ching) liable for the assault on CHAN HUI MAY KIU and must pay damages; second defendant (Tung Wah) owed visitors a duty of care but the assault was an intentional third‑party act which was not shown to be a reasonably foreseeable or preventable consequence of Tung Wah's management such that causation failed; plaintiff CHAN HEI MAN failed to prove she was assaulted; accordingly claims against Tung Wah dismissed and CHAN HEI MAN's claims dismissed; damages to CHAN HUI MAY KIU assessed at HK$56,380 plus interest and costs as ordered.
27 Aug 2025

HUNG TAT A. I. GARMENT MACHINERY COMPANY LTD v. HONG KONG MELT BLOWING PRODUCTION COMPANY LTD AND ANOTHER

Citation

[2025] HKDC 1450
Court

District Court
Case number

DCCJ515/2022

Supplemental Agreement was a valid commercial compromise not procured by economic duress; plaintiff proved entitlement to the Welder Machine price; plaintiff breached the Maintenance Obligation from 16 January 2021 but 2nd defendant failed to prove causation for third-party compensations; damages awarded only for replacement gear ($3,000) and Welder Machine ($3,500); SPA Balance and other claims dismissed.
7 Dec 2022

YINGGAO RESOURCES LTD AND ANOTHER v. THE HONGKONG AND SHANGHAI BANKING CORPORATION LTD

Citation

[2022] HKCFI 3597
Court

Court of First Instance
Case number

HCA329/2015

The appeal succeeds because the proposed amendment (Para 49) is bound to fail: causation is broken as the plaintiffs, having known the accounts were frozen and the reasons, entered into a Supplemental Agreement and a complex financing arrangement which constituted a novus actus interveniens; further the alleged losses are too remote as they arise from a highly unusual special arrangement not within the bank's contemplation or assumed responsibility; accordingly leave to amend was refused and the order below set aside.
31 Jan 2022

YINGGAO RESOURCES LTD AND ANOTHER v. THE HONGKONG AND SHANGHAI BANKING CORPORATION LTD

Citation

[2022] HKCFI 306
Court

Court of First Instance
Case number

HCA329/2015

Master allowed only the amendments relating to Addition 1 (the Gold Mining Agreement losses) because (1) on the three-stage limitation analysis the GMA pleadings were not, as a matter of law, bound to be time‑barred or to constitute a new cause of action for either the contract claim or the tort claim, and (2) the pleaded causation and remoteness issues could not be said at amendment stage to make the claim bound to fail; Additions 2–4 were not permitted.
25 Nov 2019

WONG WING MAN v. LAM YUEN YEE

Citation

[2019] HKCFI 2848
Court

Court of First Instance
Case number

HCA1043/2018

Apply normal measure of damages: accept expert valuation of market value at extended completion date and award loss of bargain of HK$2,500,000; reject HK$3,600 mortgage handling charge as too remote and speculative because no evidence defendant knew or contemplated such a charge or that agent informed defendant, so causation and remoteness not established.
15 Oct 2019

FONG CHONG CHUEN v. THE BOY’AND GIRLS’ CLUBS ASSOCIATION OF HONG KONG

Citation

[2019] HKDC 1305
Court

District Court
Case number

DCPI548/2018

Defendant breached its duty by failing to take reasonable steps to ascertain and control the bridge's load-bearing capacity in circumstances where it was foreseeable that at least three participants would use the bridge at the same time; that failure caused the collapse and plaintiff's injuries and the defendant did not discharge its evidential burden to prove a latent defect.
12 Apr 2019

POH PO LIAN AND ANOTHER v. TONG CHI KONG, JODY AND ANOTHER

Citation

[2019] HKCFI 863
Court

Court of First Instance
Case number

HCA1280/2012

Causation and remoteness established; British Racing Drivers' Club v Hextall was not applied in Hong Kong and the court followed the traditional McGregor approach so plaintiffs could recover solicitor and client taxed costs subject to deduction of any practically recoverable party and party taxed costs; damages quantified accordingly and awarded; assessment costs ordered against defendants except for costs occasioned by plaintiffs' own adjournment and related applications.
9 Jul 2018

LAM KONG SANG v. MOK SUNG KIT

Citation

[2018] HKDC 812
Court

District Court
Case number

DCCJ3121/2016

Leave to appeal refused because defendant failed to show a reasonable prospect of success: the judge found, on the facts, the plaintiff acted reasonably in defending Ng's claim so the defendant's breach remained the effective and dominant cause of the losses; the losses including enforcement costs and interest were within reasonable contemplation having regard to the plaintiff's proven impecuniosity; issues of causation and remoteness were properly resolved via mitigation analysis and no legal error was demonstrated.
24 Jan 2018

WONG ROCKY LOK KUN v. WU KWONG SUM

Citation

[2018] HKDC 70
Court

District Court
Case number

DCPI2514/2015

On the pleaded facts the psychiatric injury to the plaintiff husband was not reasonably foreseeable to the defendant obstetrician, the asserted chain of causation was too indirect and remote, and it would be disproportionate and unjust to impose a duty to avoid that harm; accordingly the amended statement of claim disclosed no reasonable cause of action and must be struck out.
23 Nov 2016

HIGH YIELD LTD v. HOME ESSENTIALS (HK) LTD

Citation

HIGH YIELD LTD v. HOME ESSENTIALS (HK) LTD
Court

Lands Tribunal
Case number

LDPD1638/2016

The Tribunal held returning the keys on 15 August 2016 did not constitute surrender of the tenancy because the parties did not reach unequivocal agreement and the applicant only accepted the repudiation when a replacement tenant was secured on 22 September 2016; the furniture left could be credited as set-off but valued at 50% of the retail prices on the Schedule (rounded to $40,000); certain post-termination losses were recoverable (agency fee, storage, movers, cleaning) while ordinary wear and tear and items attributable to typhoon or within respondent's repair obligations were not; respond…