吳雪蓮 v. 洪永潤又名hong Yongrun(洪永润)及另二人

Read the full judgment text of HCA 621/2014 on BabelCite. This High Court CFI judgment was delivered on 1 March 2017.

1. This is my decision. The plaintiff’s claim for declaration of her entitlement to a charge or an equitable mortgage of the 1 st defendant’s property in Hong Kong is essentially based on an oral agreement coupled with an alleged deposit of the original title deeds as security. This oral agreement is denied by the 1st defendant who also denies that the title deeds were deposited by him with the plaintiff, as security.

Case No.HCA 621/2014
Court
High Court CFI
Date01 Mar 2017
Judge
Case Document
100%Judiciary

HCA 621/2014

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

ACTION NO 621 OF 2014

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BETWEEN

  吳雪蓮 Plaintiff

and

  洪永潤又名HONG YONGRUN(洪永润) 1st Defendant
  厦門市和潤融資擔保有限公司 2nd Defendant
  福建省和潤興業集團有限公司 3rd Defendant

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Before: Hon Mimmie Chan J in Chambers (Open to public)
Date of Hearing: 1 March 2017
Date of Decision: 1 March 2017

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D E C I S I O N

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1.This is my decision. The plaintiff’s claim for declaration of her entitlement to a charge or an equitable mortgage of the 1st defendant’s property in Hong Kong is essentially based on an oral agreement coupled with an alleged deposit of the original title deeds as security. This oral agreement is denied by the 1st defendant who also denies that the title deeds were deposited by him with the plaintiff, as security.

2.I have borne in mind the fact that there were no references at all to the alleged charge or the mortgage in any of the contemporaneous documentation or correspondence, and in particular, in the loan agreements themselves relied upon by the plaintiff, or the undertaking to repay.

3.There is therefore nothing but the plaintiff’s bare allegation against the 1st defendant’s bare denial as to how the deeds came into the plaintiff’s possession.  There are also, in my view, gaps in the plaintiff’s evidence as to when exactly and how exactly the mortgage was created.

4.In all the circumstances of this case, until the parties have been cross-examined at trial, I cannot say, on the state of the evidence put before me, that the 1st defendant’s assertions are not capable of belief.  The question of whether the deeds were in fact deposited by the 1st defendant with the plaintiff, and whether there was an agreement between them that the deeds were to be used as security for the debt can only, in my view, be determined at trial after cross-examination.

5.In all the circumstances of this case, including the fact that monetary judgment has already been given to the plaintiff, I consider that the only proper order that I can give today is for unconditional leave to be given to the 1st defendant, and since I am granting unconditional leave, the costs order must follow that costs should be in the cause.

(Mimmie Chan)
Judge of the Court of First Instance
High Court

Mr Billy Ma, instructed by Joseph Chu, Lo & Lau, for the plaintiff

Mr Vincent Lung, instructed by Yung, Yu, Yuen & Co, for the 1st defendant