9 Jul 2024
Applying s14AA(4) and established authorities, the judge formed a broad‑brush preliminary view that the defendants' appeal against the discovery order was not reasonably arguable; consequently leave to appeal and an interim stay were refused and costs were awarded to the plaintiffs.
27 Jan 2023
Cross‑examination in the conventional Hong Kong sense is outside the scope of Article 6 of the Arrangement when the HKSAR court is the requesting party; where only examination‑in‑chief or an unspecified limited form of cross‑examination may be available, the applicant must demonstrate necessity for the purposes of justice and the extent/value of any limited cross‑examination; the applicant failed to do so and delay and lack of evidence on the extent of permissible cross‑examination justified refusal of the letters of request and refusal of leave to appeal.
5 Oct 2022
The court dismissed the summons because the contested interrogatories were not necessary to dispose fairly of the cause or to save costs: the plaintiff's annual earnings were established by tax assessments and disclosed audited accounts, the defendants' queries (particularly on director's fees and absence days) were either fishing or matters properly left to trial cross-examination, and the necessity test for interrogatories was not met; costs were awarded to the plaintiff against the defendants in the sum of HKD 525,000, without indemnity and without a certificate for two counsel.
19 Nov 2019
The application to vary the travel restriction was refused because the applicant failed to demonstrate that overseas attendance was necessary given the availability of instantaneous communication, the award invitation post‑dated the magistrate's refusal, and there remained a real, non‑fanciful risk of absconding; public interest considerations therefore outweighed the applicant's freedom of movement.
21 Dec 2016
Applying the broad-brush two-stage summary assessment approach, the court found the total claimed costs of HK$238,084 to be somewhat high on a party-and-party basis, accepted the hourly rates claimed as not disproportionate, disallowed certain senior solicitor (EY) time for hearing and preparation as duplicative, reduced junior solicitors' (VL and TS) time, reduced manual clerical time, upheld counsel's brief fee as reasonable at HK$100,000, and assessed the defendant's recoverable costs at HK$170,000 payable by the plaintiff.
24 Oct 2014
The interrogatories failed the necessity test under Order 26 because they were premature and amounted to a fishing expedition or a dry run of cross-examination prior to the exchange of witness statements; accordingly the plaintiff's interrogatories dated 24 April 2014 must be withdrawn and costs awarded to the defendants for summary assessment.
20 Oct 2009
The Court held that the subpoenaed documents were, on the evidence and for the purposes of the ancillary relief proceedings, necessary to determine the nature and extent of alleged family gifts/secret commissions and to enable accurate assessment of potential US tax liabilities; the classes of documents specified were sufficiently particularized and did not amount to disguised discovery; redaction of irrelevant/confidential material is permissible but must be justified and supervised; accordingly the Court dismissed the appeal except that paragraph 2(c) of the Order was deleted and made an or…
11 Jun 2008
The application was refused because the plaintiff failed to show prima facie evidence that additional psychiatric, ENT or ophthalmological reports were necessary and because Order 25 r8 was procedurally inapplicable; absent evidence of necessity the court will not permit further expert reports beyond those limited at Check List Review.
23 Mar 1999
Sections 7 of the National Flag and National Emblem Ordinance and the Regional Flag and Regional Emblem Ordinance are inconsistent with Article 19 of the ICCPR as applied by Basic Law Article 39 and the prosecution failed to show the criminalisation of flag desecration was necessary for protection of public order; the magistrate's reliance on the mere possibility of hostile reaction and judicial notice of a 'sacred' status was insufficient and unreliable, therefore convictions must be quashed.