Read the full judgment text of CACV 000010/1985 on BabelCite. This Court of Appeal judgment was delivered on 13 February 1985 before Sir Alan Huggins, V.-P., Fuad JA, Kempster JA.
Civil law – hire purchase – ownership of motor vehicle – detinue – conversion – damages – interest – appeal – Hire Purchase Agreement dated 8 September 1981 between BA Finance (H.K.) Ltd. and plaintiffs for an Audi motor car – plaintiffs fell behind with payments – BA Finance determined the hiring on 6 September 1983 – plaintiffs then paid up and BA Finance accepted, waiving the breach and reinstating the agreement – on 8 September 1983, BA Finance authorized repairers to release the vehicle to plaintiffs under the option to purchase – Mr. Chan Dick-long authorized to act for plaintiffs discharged liability to BA from unexplained resources – vehicle valued at HK$115,000 – whether plaintiffs were owners of the motor vehicle at date of issue of writ – held yes, on the balance of probabilities title was duly derived from BA Finance under the Hire Purchase Agreement – whether assessment of damages for conversion at HK$114,960 was arbitrary and excessive – held no, the trial judge's necessarily arbitrary assessment could not be faulted where defendants called no evidence and damage had been made good – whether the 2% above prime interest rate could be challenged on appeal – held no, the point was not raised below and was not available on appeal – appeal dismissed.
Legal issues: Whether plaintiffs were owners of the motor vehicle at the date of issue of the writ · Whether the assessment of damages for conversion was arbitrary and excessive · Whether the rate of interest awarded of 2% above prime could be challenged on appeal
Outcome: Appeal dismissed.