On 26 November 2024, the Court of Final Appeal handed down a set of landmark judgments in 3 cases affirming the rights of same-sex couples in the areas of public and subsidised housing as well as intestacy and inheritance.   The Court held that a set of housing policies maintained by the Hong Kong Housing Authority […]

In Ng Tung v Grand Wayfair Investment Company Ltd [2024] HKCFI 2630, the Court agreed to enforce the settlement agreement embodied in the Schedule to a Tomlin Order of an adverse possession case.   The facts  The Plaintiff (squatter) claims possessory title to the subject lots by way of adverse possession against the Defendants (land owners). […]

Recently in Poon Ki Chi (潘麒智) v Poon Chuk Hung Jason (潘焯鴻) [2024] HKCFI 3371, Jeffrey Tam (together with William Kwok) represented the successful Plaintiff in her application for an order of committal against the Defendant, a well-known figure in the society, for his breach of an injunction order by making defamatory statements and offensive […]

A debtor who had absconded was declared bankrupt in 2005, and his bankruptcy discharged automatically in 2009. He now relies on the discharge as a defence to the debt claim. Can the creditor nonetheless recover the debt by annulling the bankruptcy order made 19 years ago?   This was the conundrum in Re Zhan Xiangming [2024] […]

In So Kai Wing v Sino Estates Management Limited [2024] HKDC 1829, the Plaintiff alleged that he slipped and fell while walking in the lift lobby of a residential block. He claimed against the Defendant, who was the manager of the housing estate.    Liability   Under cross-examination, the Plaintiff admitted that he did not notice any […]

On 7 November 2024, after hearing submissions at an urgent leave hearing, the Honourable Mr Justice Coleman granted leave in HCAL 2029/2024 ([2024] HKCFI 3201) to 深圳蔚來教育有限公司, trading as SZICC (深圳國際課程中心) (“the Applicant”) to apply for judicial review of a decision of the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority (“HKEAA”) made on 28 October 2024 […]

In Charm Master Enterprises Ltd v Grand T G Gold Holdings Ltd and J. Thomson Asset Investment Ltd [2024] HKCFI 2847, Cheng J held that the Plaintiff, as the legal holder of two promissory notes (“PN D” and “PN E”), in the sums of $7.5m and $5m respectively, held them on trust for the 2nd […]

In WYM v LYM [2024] HKCA 499; [2024] 5 HKC 294, Anthony P.W. Cheung (with Lee Siu Him) successfully persuaded the Court of Appeal to allow an appeal by a licensed money lender’s (“Intervener”) against the Judge’s order that its beneficial interests in a matrimonial home (“Property”) under a mortgage created by the Husband in its […]

The Romantic poet William Wordsworth attributes childhood as having “intertwine for me / the passions that build up our human Soul / Not with the mean and vulgar works of Man, / But with high objects, with enduring things”. It is childhood, writes Wordsworth, that enables us to recognise “the grandeur in the beatings of […]

Background In a recent decision by the Registrar of Trade Marks involving the revocation of the registration of Trade Mark No. 199203333AA registered under Class 9, Phyllis Lee successfully persuaded the Registrar to find that there was genuine use of the trade mark for audio recordings. The trade mark, owned by Talisman Brands, Inc. (previously […]