Read the full judgment text of FACV 12/2010 on BabelCite. This Court of Final Appeal judgment was delivered on 8 March 2011 before Bokhary PJ.
Civil procedure – intervention – leave to intervene in appeal to Court of Final Appeal – whether party to separate pending litigation may intervene in related appeal – rating and valuation – whether exceptional circumstances exist to justify intervention – intervention refused – costs. Civil procedure – intervention – whether non-party in pending related litigation before Lands Tribunal should be granted leave to intervene in appeal to Court of Final Appeal – same points of law arise – whether exceptional circumstances exist – held no exceptional circumstances – application dismissed. The applicant CLP sought leave to intervene in the appellant's (Electric's) appeal against the respondent Commissioner of Rating and Valuation, on the ground that many of the points of law to be decided also arose in CLP's separate pending litigation against the Commissioner before the Lands Tribunal. Electric supported the intervention; the Commissioner opposed it. The court held that intervention of the kind proposed could only be permitted in exceptional circumstances, which are likely to be rare. Allowing intervention merely because pending litigation would be affected by the result of other litigation would risk flooding the legal system. The court was not persuaded that any such circumstances existed, as Electric had high quality legal advice and representation. CLP was free to instruct its lawyers to offer ideas to Electric's lawyers without formal intervention. The application for leave to intervene was dismissed. On costs, the Commissioner's application for costs against CLP (unopposed) was granted, but Electric's application for costs against CLP was refused, as Electric could have indicated its support by letter. Outcome: application for leave to intervene dismissed; costs awarded to the Commissioner against CLP; Electric's costs application refused.
Legal issues: Whether to grant leave to intervene to a non-party in related pending litigation · Costs of the intervention application against CLP
Outcome: Application for leave to intervene by CLP dismissed; costs awarded to the Commissioner against CLP; costs not awarded to Electric against CLP.