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Jonathan Lu and Others v. Paul Chan Mo Po and Another

Read the full judgment text of FAMV 22/2017 on BabelCite. This Court of Final Appeal judgment was delivered on 21 August 2017 before Chief Justice Ma, Tang PJ, Fok PJ.

1. Leave to appeal to the Court of Final Appeal is granted to the Applicants under s.22(1)(b) of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal Ordinance, Cap 484 on the following question of great general or public importance:

Legal issues: Leave to appeal in defamation case on malice and retrial

Outcome: Leave to appeal granted to the Applicants on two grounds.

Case No.FAMV 22/2017
Court
Court of Final Appeal
Date21 Aug 2017
JudgeChief Justice Ma, Tang PJ, Fok PJ
Case Document
100%Judiciary

FAMV No. 22 of 2017

IN THE COURT OF FINAL APPEAL OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

MISCELLANEOUS PROCEEDINGS NO. 22 OF 2017 (CIVIL)

(ON APPLICATION FOR LEAVE TO APPEAL

FROM CACV NO. 252 OF 2015)

____________________

BETWEEN

  JONATHAN LU (盧冠中) 1st Plaintiff
  CAITLIN LU (盧亮臻) 2nd Plaintiff
  CARL LU (盧光漢) 3rd Plaintiff
(Applicants)
  and  
  PAUL CHAN MO-PO (陳茂波) 1st Defendant
  FRIEDA HUI (許步明) 2nd Defendant
(Respondents)

____________________

Appeal Committee: Chief Justice Ma, Mr Justice Tang PJ and Mr Justice Fok PJ
Date of Hearing and Determination: 21 August 2017

__________________________________

DETERMINATION

__________________________________

The Appeal Committee:

1.Leave to appeal to the Court of Final Appeal is granted to the Applicants under s.22(1)(b) of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal Ordinance, Cap 484 on the following question of great general or public importance:

What is the proper legal approach to the issue of malice to defeat a defence of qualified privilege, with particular emphasis on the treatment of the mental state or belief on the part of the party who has allegedly made the defamatory statement?

2.Leave to appeal is also granted on the “or otherwise” ground, namely:

In the event of the Court of Appeal was right to hold that the summing up in the Court of First Instance was in error, whether a retrial should have been ordered.

3.The appeal will be heard on 6 and 7 March 2018.

(Geoffrey Ma) (Robert Tang) (Joseph Fok)
Chief Justice Permanent Judge Permanent Judge

Mr Andrew Caldecott QC, Mr Gerard McCoy SC and Mr Lawrence K F Ng, instructed by Norton Rose Fulbright Hong Kong, for the 1st – 3rd Plaintiffs (Applicants)

Mr Benjamin Yu SC and Ms Queenie Lau, instructed by Deacons, for the 1st – 2nd Defendants (Respondents)