Hong Kong Case Law: Decisions & Judgments

Topic

Expunction of evidence

Legal area

Court

17 Jan 2024

THE HONG KONG JOURNALISTS ASSOCIATION v. THE COMMISSIONER OF POLICE AND ANOTHER

Citation

[2024] HKCA 75
Court

Court of Appeal
Case number

CACV645/2020

The Court held that Cheng's Evidence must be expunged because it introduced a new allegation of systematic regularity of non‑compliance that went beyond the case advanced below and therefore constituted inadmissible fresh/reply evidence on appeal; Chan's Evidence was permissible to the extent it directly rebutted new assertions made by the respondents, but respondents must be given leave to file reply evidence to Chan within 28 days and applicants are precluded from filing further evidence in response to that reply to preserve finality and fairness.
11 Oct 2023

CHOY HON KI AND ANOTHER v. 林家強

Citation

[2023] HKDC 1408
Court

District Court
Case number

DCCJ631/2018

On an objective assessment of the whole evidence, up to and including the October 2017 meetings there was no extant dispute as to title between the paper owners and the defendant; the communications and transcripts show acknowledgements of tenancy and willingness to purchase which negate an adverse possession dispute. Consequently WPP did not apply to the disputed materials up to that point and until 18 May 2018. After the defendant’s D&CC was filed on 18 May 2018, communications from 24 May 2018 onwards were plainly settlement negotiations related to an extant dispute and attract WPP; those…
6 Jul 2023

CHUI v. CHENG

Citation

[2023] HKCA 774
Court

Court of Appeal
Case number

CACV339/2022

The Court of Appeal held that most of the Deputy District Judge's case management decisions fell within the proper exercise of discretion (trial de novo and expunction were within range), but the Unless Order was made without properly considering the children's welfare and was therefore plainly wrong; the costs order as assessed was excessive because only specific items were properly 'thrown away', so the Wasted Costs Order was set aside and substituted with a costs thrown away award of HKD 154,320; a new trial is ordered before another judge; other orders largely stand.
20 Mar 2023

CHAN PAK YUEN v. LAM MAN KIT

Citation

[2023] HKCFI 818
Court

Court of First Instance
Case number

HCPI199/2021

The court affirmed the master's decision: treating-doctor reports may include admissible facts (history, diagnosis, treatment) but any portions that express opinion serving as expert evidence require prior leave; the reports before the master contained opinion material amounting to expert evidence and were properly expunged; legal representatives must exercise judgment to redact or obtain leave for opinion material.
11 Oct 2017

YUNG SIU CHEE MARGARET AND OTHERS v. CHOY CHING WA FIONNE AND OTHERS

Citation

YUNG SIU CHEE MARGARET AND OTHERS v. CHOY CHING WA FIONNE AND OTHERS
Court

Court of First Instance
Case number

HCMP1682/2016

The judge exercised discretion to permit the 1st defendant to file and rely on the Second Affirmation except for specified paragraphs which were conceded by the 1st defendant as not strictly relevant, because the disputed material was relevant to deciding whether the executrices acted reasonably in pursuing PRC proceedings and to the alleged waiver of the HK$9m loan, and that relevance outweighed prejudice from lateness after balancing factors.
20 Oct 2016

CHEN MEI LAN AND ANOTHER v. THE REGISTRAR OF COMPANIES AND OTHERS

Citation

CHEN MEI LAN AND ANOTHER v. THE REGISTRAR OF COMPANIES AND OTHERS
Court

Court of First Instance
Case number

HCMP894/2015

The court granted leave to expunge the Mainland judgment because Hollington v Hewthorn bars reliance on foreign convictions and judgments for the truth of their findings; the Plaintiffs sought to rely on the admissions recorded in the Mainland judgment for their truth despite D3 being unavailable for cross‑examination and the Mainland proceedings being unknown to the court, so admission would be inadmissible and prejudicial.

Hong Kong Case Law

THE HONG KONG JOURNALISTS ASSOCIATION v. THE COMMISSIONER OF POLICE AND ANOTHER

CHOY HON KI AND ANOTHER v. 林家強

CHUI v. CHENG

CHAN PAK YUEN v. LAM MAN KIT

YUNG SIU CHEE MARGARET AND OTHERS v. CHOY CHING WA FIONNE AND OTHERS

CHEN MEI LAN AND ANOTHER v. THE REGISTRAR OF COMPANIES AND OTHERS