Our firm acts for Mr. Leung Chun-ying, the Vice Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and has successfully opposed an application taken out by the 1st Defendant, Mr. Chung Kim-wah (the “1st Defendant”) in High Court Action No. 1993/2018 (the “Action”).

The Court previously ordered that the Action would be tried with a jury and the 1st Defendant, as the party applying for a jury trial, should pay a jury deposit by 1 February 2021 in accordance with the《Jury Ordinance》(Cap. 3). However, the 1st Defendant applied to the Court by way of a Summons for an extension of the deadline to pay the jury deposit. The Honourable Madam Justice Au-Yeung handed down the decision on 23 December 2022 and the key points of her Decision are as follows :-

(1) According to section 15 of the《Jury Ordinance》, the party applying for a jury trial has to pay the jury deposit within the prescribed time, otherwise the cause shall be heard by the court without a jury. Under such circumstances, if there is another application for a jury trial or an application for extension of time to pay the jury deposit, the Court would have to exercise its discretion afresh.

(2) The Court considers that the inadvertence of the 1st Defendant’s solicitor causing the delay is not sufficient to persuade the Court to extend the time to pay the jury deposit or to grant a fresh order for trial by jury.

(3) After considering various factors, the Court considers that the 2nd Defendant’s lack of legal representatives to assist the Court and the jury is a significant change of circumstance and it is sufficient to persuade the Court not to order a jury trial.

The Honourable Madam Justice Au-Yeung made an Order to dismiss the 1st Defendant’s application and ordered that the 1st Defendant shall pay costs to our client. The trial of this case would be heard by a judge without a jury.

This case is led by our Senior Partner Mr. Peter Sit, our litigation partner Mr. Alex Chan, and assisted by our Associate, Mr. Alan So.

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