Read the full judgment text of HCA 1202/2002 on BabelCite. This High Court CFI judgment was delivered on 18 September 2002 before Deputy High Court Judge A Cheung.
Civil procedure – consolidation of actions – right of abode – Basic Law art. 24(2)(3) – Standing Committee of the NPC Interpretation of 26 June 1999 – unsuccessful right of abode seekers who are Chinese nationals born in Mainland to parents who were not Hong Kong permanent residents at the time of birth – misfeasance in public office – whether amended pleading discloses reasonable cause of action – whether loss suffered – whether chain of causation broken by novus actus interveniens – whether requisite mental element adequately pleaded – pleading deficiencies – application to disallow amendments under O 20 r 4 – amendment held to be futile exercise because Plaintiffs suffered no loss recognised or protected by law as the Interpretation declared the law as it had always been since 1 July 1997 and the Plaintiffs' lack of entitlement under art. 24(2)(3) remained unchanged before and after the CFA decisions in Ng Ka Ling v Director of Immigration and Chan Kam Nga v Director of Immigration – amendments disallowed and consolidated actions dismissed – costs of consolidated actions including strike-out applications and the application to disallow amendments ordered to be paid by Plaintiffs to Defendant with certificate for two counsel – please refer to CACV387/2002 for the relevant appeal(s) to the Court of Appeal.
Legal issues: Whether the amended pleading discloses a cause of action for misfeasance in public office where no loss is pleaded · Whether the State Council's motion and Standing Committee's Interpretation broke the chain of causation as novus actus interveniens · Whether the mental element of misfeasance in public office is adequately pleaded
Outcome: Amendments disallowed; consolidated actions dismissed.
Cited by 2 cases · Cites 2 cases