CHAN KWOK TING v. CHAN NAM PING

HCA 12955/1998

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE

ACTION NO. 12955 OF 1998

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Before: Mr Recorder Kwok, S.C. in Chambers

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J U D G M E N T

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1.  By his Amended Statement of Claim, the plaintiff claims against the defendant, the registered owner of a piece of property in the New Territories, for a declaration that the plaintiff has since 1985 been in adverse possession of the defendant’s property for a continuous period of over 12 years.

2.  On 6 December 2002, Deputy Judge Fung adjourned the plaintiff’s application for default judgment sine die with liberty to restore.

3.  On 19 November 2004, the Court of Appeal handed down its judgment in Chan Tin Shi v Li Ting Sung & others CACV71/2003, now reported in [2005] 1 HKC 1.

4.  On 28 January 2005, the plaintiff’s solicitors, Messrs Terry Yeung & Lai, applied to fix a date to restore the hearing of the plaintiff’s application for default judgment.

5.  On 29 June 2005, the plaintiff issued a summons to amend the Amended Statement of Claim to claim that the plaintiff and his predecessors-in-title had been in adverse possession before 1971.  The plaintiff also sought an order dispensing with service of the further amended documents.

6.  The “Written Submission for the Plaintiff” prepared by Mr Kenny Chan is silent on the plaintiff’s alleged cause of action; Chan Tin Shi; or the summons dated 29 June 2005.

7.  The judgment of the majority in Chan Tin Shi is binding on me.  I dismiss the plaintiff’s application by his amended summons dated 6 December 2002 for default judgment.  I also dismiss the plaintiff’s summons dated 29 June 2005.