Hong Kong Case Law: Decisions & Judgments

Topic

Wrongful termination

Legal area

Court

7 Mar 2025

WONG WAI SUM v. AXA CHINA REGION INSURANCE COMPANY LTD AND ANOTHER

Citation

[2025] HKCFI 872
Court

Court of First Instance
Case number

HCA1766/2020

The plaintiff failed to prove the alleged pre-contractual representations were made or relied upon; even if made they were superseded by express entire-agreement clauses; pleaded implied terms were imprecise, unnecessary, or contradicted express contract provisions; termination was within express contractual rights and was for poor performance (failure to meet MTB validation and high lapse rates); deductions were authorised by express contractual set-off and assignment provisions; the defendants' counterclaim under the M3/advance agreements and deeds of guarantee succeeded, with interest and…
24 Nov 2023

SUEN HUNG SHAN v. WONG & OUYANG (HK) LTD

Citation

[2023] HKCFI 3006
Court

Court of First Instance
Case number

HCA1796/2020

The 2nd Employment Agreement was a fixed-term contract expressly expiring on 27 July 2020 and thus terminated by effluxion of time; the Settlement Agreement was a full and final compromise barring re-litigation; there was no implied contractual obligation to give reasons or to renew the fixed term; the deduction of HK$164,450 was agreed and valid; accordingly the plaintiff's claims fail and are dismissed.
14 Jun 2022

JEKCO ELEVATORS LTD v. MILLION HOTEL MANAGEMENT LTD

Citation

[2022] HKCA 810
Court

Court of Appeal
Case number

CAMP101/2022

Leave to appeal refused because defendant failed to show a reasonable prospect of success: breaches occurring under the first agreement cannot be aggregated to justify termination of the second agreement; defendant failed to prove the alleged breaches within the contractual period of the 2nd Agreement (including the 26 June 2017 incident) or that the remedial works were necessitated by plaintiff's breach; award of the unpaid balance of the 2nd Agreement as damages was appropriate absent pleaded mitigation or proof of net profit loss.
17 Nov 2021

SALLEH ABU BAKER v. ANWAY LTD

Citation

[2021] HKCFI 3407
Court

Court of First Instance
Case number

HCA2359/2019

On the balance of probabilities the Plaintiff failed to prove an oral variation of the three‑month notice clause; the Plaintiff's own contemporaneous letter and admissions negated any concluded agreement, the alleged 18–24 month notice was commercially implausible and unsupported by documentary/electronic evidence, therefore the contractual three‑month notice remained effective and the Plaintiff's claims are dismissed.
17 Mar 2021

ZHANG QIANG v. CISCO SYSTEMS (HK) LTD

Citation

[2021] HKCFI 694
Court

Court of First Instance
Case number

HCA1497/2010

No legally binding Settlement Agreement existed because a unilateral mistake (misstated Notional ESPP Gain) meant there was no consensus ad idem and the plaintiff knew or ought to have known of the error; plaintiff did not repatriate so repatriation claims failed; summary dismissal was justified for prolonged unauthorized absence and failure to comply with lawful instructions; defendant entitled to restitution/unjust enrichment and counterclaimed sums, and entitled to withhold ORSO contributions except minimum statutory MPF benefit.
11 Mar 2021

P CO AND ANOTHER v. R LLC AND ANOTHER

Citation

[2021] HKCFI 691
Court

Court of First Instance
Case number

HCCT21/2021

Absent fraud or exceptional circumstances plaintiffs failed to demonstrate a sufficiently strong/clear case to restrain payment under an unconditional on‑demand bank guarantee; commercial certainty of guarantees outweighs plaintiffs' risk of recovery so injunction refused and summons dismissed.
22 Jan 2021

BRETON JEAN v. HK BELLAWINGS JET LTD

Citation

[2021] HKDC 46
Court

District Court
Case number

DCCJ3612/2017

The Court held that the contractual terms (Clause 6 and OMA provisions) equated being contactable on the company phone with standby duty (subject to exceptions for scheduled annual leave/resting), and because no system existed to notify or allocate rest days the employer failed to provide the required rest days; the employee was therefore entitled to unpaid rest day pay assessed at HK$665,361.01 plus interest. Separately, the employer was justified in summarily dismissing the employee for abandonment/unauthorised absence from 8–13 December 2016, so the claim for payment in lieu of notice was…
19 Dec 2019

梁妙儀對嶺南大學

Citation

[2019] HKCFI 3088
Court

Court of First Instance
Case number

HCLA25/2017

The leave application was out of time (deemed service 16 Sep 2017; application filed 26 Sep 2017) and, independently, had no arguable merit because the employment contract expressly authorised termination during the probationary period on one month's notice or payment in lieu which the respondent paid; therefore there was no basis to overturn the tribunal's decision and the leave application was dismissed.
30 Oct 2019

REMEDY ASIA LTD AND ANOTHER v. YICK SHING CONTRACTORS LTD

Citation

[2019] HKCFI 2673
Court

Court of First Instance
Case number

HCCT4/2012

The Plaintiffs proved entitlement to the contract sums as quantified by the single joint expert, the Assignment was valid and prior rulings rejected champerty and time‑bar defences, the Defendant failed to produce evidence to justify deductions or to substantiate the alleged settlement or substandard performance, the purported termination of Contract B was unlawful, and the Plaintiffs are entitled to the awarded sums, damages, interest and costs.
12 Mar 2018

GOLDEN MILES GROUP HOLDINGS LTD v. JACOB & CO LTD

Citation

[2018] HKCFI 441
Court

Court of First Instance
Case number

HCA2453/2017

Although a serious issue to be tried existed concerning the validity of termination and the alleged March Agreement, the court discharged the interim injunction because the balance of convenience favoured the defendant: there was a real risk plaintiff's cross-undertaking was worthless given its minimal capital and lack of disclosure; the defendant faced potential uncompensatable loss if restrained from exploiting the Territory; and the affidavit evidence raised credible concerns about the plaintiff's marketing expense claims and the breakdown of mutual trust necessary for cooperative performa…