Hong Kong Case Law: Decisions & Judgments

Topic

Bank statements

Legal area

Court

19 May 2023

QIAO YUANZHANG AND ANOTHER v. JEAN-PHILIPPE GASTON MARIE BENOSIT AND ANOTHER

Citation

[2023] HKCFI 1437
Court

Court of First Instance
Case number

HCA835/2020

The court ordered specific discovery in part because the bank account numbers and bank statements for December 2016 to August 2017 were sufficiently relevant and necessary to allow an independent audit to reconcile the 2nd Respondent's ledgers with bank records and to resolve the dispute about the accuracy of Schedule 1; redactions to exclude unrelated business entries were permitted; no order as to costs was made.
7 Apr 2017

HMSE v. JJS

Citation

HMSE v. JJS
Court

Family Court
Case number

FCMP70/2008

The court held that the mother's financial position is relevant to assessment of a mother's allowance and ordered partial discovery: the mother must answer specified questions and produce documents relating to property interests, other landed properties, updated bank statements (with explanations limited to two large withdrawals), identification and loan particulars regarding the cousin, the alleged HK$220,000 loan receipt, and other specified items within 28 days; the court refused orders for production of first pages of certain bank statements, full credit card histories, immigration depart…
4 Aug 2016

CHUNG SUI CHEONG THE ADMINISTRATOR OF THE ESTATE OF CHUNG WAI MAN JOSEPH DECEASED v. TSANG WAI HUNG

Citation

CHUNG SUI CHEONG THE ADMINISTRATOR OF THE ESTATE OF CHUNG WAI MAN JOSEPH DECEASED v. TSANG WAI HUNG
Court

Court of First Instance
Case number

HCPI1058/2015

The Master allowed the defendant's application in part because the parents' bank statements were relevant to disputed issues whether substantial contributions or promises were made and to the relative financial positions and post-death financial stress of the parties; the plaintiff and his wife must personally verify by affidavit; disclosure was limited to 1 April 2011 to 31 March 2014.
1 Nov 2012

YUI CHUNG YIN v. NG KIT SUM

Citation

YUI CHUNG YIN v. NG KIT SUM
Court

Court of First Instance
Case number

HCA1826/2009

The court refused specific discovery and the late amendment because the documents sought were not shown to be relevant or were overbroad, the defendant failed to define a precise class of documents, and the applications were made too late post-PTR without valid explanation thereby causing potential prejudice and cost waste; further witness evidence was allowed only in part where relevant and non-duplicative (paras 24–28) and other proposed evidence was disallowed as irrelevant or unnecessary because the settlement order can be produced by consent or by brief examination-in-chief.
11 Sept 2008

CHAN KA KIT v. A. S. WATSON & CO., LTD

Citation

CHAN KA KIT v. A. S. WATSON & CO., LTD
Court

Court of First Instance
Case number

HCPI554/2007

Interrogatories were allowed only insofar as they sought identification of the bank account receiving the reported auto-pay income because the updated bank statements lacked the reported income and early disclosure was necessary to obtain documents without causing trial delay; questions about other unexplained credit entries were to be left for trial; the case was removed from the Warned List pending service and filing of the interrogatories by a fixed date.
17 May 2007

LEI ZI SHEN v. TAI-AO ALUMINIUM GROUP LTD AND OTHERS

Citation

LEI ZI SHEN v. TAI-AO ALUMINIUM GROUP LTD AND OTHERS
Court

Court of First Instance
Case number

HCCW1116/2004

Monthly management accounts for the holding company and principal operating subsidiary from 1 January 2005 to date must be produced because they are relevant and necessary to inform the court of the company's up-to-date financial position for deciding winding-up versus buy-out and valuation issues; bank statements are not required and are irrelevant to the alleged earlier intention and to the court's needs for those purposes.
22 Nov 2001

Tung Chun Chung v. So Wa t/a So Wa Decoration

Citation

Tung Chun Chung v. So Wa t/a So Wa Decoration
Court

District Court
Case number

DCCJ6569/2001

The court held that there was a prima facie inference that the Plaintiff paid the remedial works by cheque(s) given the quotation and receipt addressed to him and the amounts involved, and therefore ordered limited discovery (copy cheques or bank statements evidencing those cheques) for the remedial work of HK$72,000; the court refused discovery relating to rental payments for lack of prima facie evidence that payments were made by cheque.
2 Mar 2001

CHUNG CHIU HA v. BILLY KAI TSOI

Citation

CHUNG CHIU HA v. BILLY KAI TSOI
Court

Court of Appeal
Case number

CACV611/2000

The appeal is dismissed: the Court upheld the Deputy Judge's refusal to order production of bank statements because they are of little practical use on their own; refused disclosure of Hung Hing's records because beneficial ownership was shown to lie with a third party and no evidence of contrivance existed; refused broader disclosure from remote joint venture companies because the respondent's interest was too indirect; and refused admission of late evidence on appeal because it could and should have been produced below.
6 Dec 1991

MAN WON CO. LTD. AND ANOTHER v. TAY VI BING AND OTHERS

Citation

MAN WON CO. LTD. AND ANOTHER v. TAY VI BING AND OTHERS
Court

Court of First Instance
Case number

HCA2553/1989

Where a plaintiff has an arguable case that multiple defendants misappropriated property in concert, documents relating to those defendants' finances (for example bank statements over a material period) are discoverable if it is reasonable to suppose they might show, or lead to piecing together, a pattern of dealings between the defendants which would shed useful light on the allegation of misappropriation in concert.
6 Jun 1985

WENDY WENTA SENG YUEN v. PHILIP PAK YIU YUEN

Citation

WENDY WENTA SENG YUEN v. PHILIP PAK YIU YUEN
Court

Court of First Instance
Case number

HCMC18/1983

The court ordered production of all bank statements already procured by the parties and directed best endeavours to obtain the remainder (including the period 1 Jan 1973 to 31 Dec 1983); production cannot be made conditional on reciprocal production; jointly held deposit slips must be produced where the petitioner is shown to be the beneficial owner and objections appear contrived; claims of inability to produce must be verified by affidavit; particulars are to be provided only in general terms and not to the extent requiring guessing or unreasonable historic records.