9 Aug 2024
The magistrate's acceptance of the prosecution witness as honest and reliable and rejection of the appellant's implausible account was reasonable; there was no demonstrable error in the magistrate's factual findings and the appellate court will not disturb them, so the conviction must be upheld.
8 Jul 2022
The Court found that, in the context of hiring day‑labor cleaners, the appellant took practicable and credible steps (face‑to‑face meetings, identity checks, inquiries about experience and photocopies) to verify employability; the trial judge's rejection of those facts was inconsistent with accepted evidence, rendering the convictions unsafe; appeal allowed and convictions quashed.
28 Apr 2020
The court corrected the clerical error substituting the first respondent for the third, held the applicant had substantially exaggerated the claim thereby justifying departures from general costs practice against the applicant and second respondent, but recognised the Fund's statutory filtering role and therefore ordered no costs between applicant and the Fund; apportioned costs between parties (second respondent to pay 60% of applicant's costs re compensation assessment; first and second to pay the Fund's costs relating to assessment).
8 Jul 2019
On the balance of probabilities the alleged accident did not occur: the applicant's account was internally inconsistent and contradicted by contemporaneous attendance records, treating hospital and clinic reports and an expert joint medical report; respondents met the burden to rebut the statutory presumption of temporary incapacity, therefore no entitlement to compensation arose and the application was dismissed with costs.
30 Apr 2019
The court found that the conduct complained of amounted to unfairly prejudicial conduct and that the petitioners' factual evidence was credible; accordingly the petitions were well founded and the court may order equitable relief including a buy‑out under the Companies Ordinance, with valuation and mechanics to be determined by further directions.
22 Mar 2019
The court found the plaintiff's injuries were mild soft tissue contusions with no significant anatomic pathology, concluded medical and contemporaneous records did not support inability to resume pre-accident employment, and, applying comparative authorities (including Tong Siu Wai) and the Court of Appeal's guidance on starting points, fixed PSLA at HKD 220,000 and dismissed claims for pre-trial loss of earnings.
5 Sept 2018
The appellate court allowed the appeal and set aside the magistrate's refusal of costs, holding that although non-disclosure can be relevant in exceptional circumstances, the magistrate's exercise of discretion was unsustainable in the particular way applied; the appellant was entitled to trial costs limited to the period after disclosure of Exhibit D1 and to 50% of his appeal costs, subject to taxation if not agreed.
1 Jun 2017
The court rejected the plaintiff's platform account as inherently improbable and inconsistent with contemporaneous documents (Accident Record Form and hospital records) and accepted the defendants' non-platform version; on the evidence plaintiff failed to establish defendants' negligence and the claim was dismissed; costs ordered to follow the event except no order as to costs for the two ex parte applications whose costs were wasted.
7 Feb 2014
The Court dismissed the applications for leave because the applicants failed to show it was reasonably arguable that the trial judge was plainly wrong to accept the key witness's account; the objective bank timing evidence did not render that account impossible and other corroborative material supported the convictions, and the statutory mens rea issue was academic absent a successful challenge on credibility.
26 Jun 2013
The appellate court refused to disturb the magistrate's credibility and factual findings because the magistrate had the advantage of seeing witnesses, made a reasoned analysis, and there was ample evidence to support the guilty verdict; therefore the conviction was not unsafe and must be upheld.